Congratulations on making it to half a century! Your fifties can be a time of change. Maybe not having to work anymore sounds like a dream, but you might be concerned you don’t have enough saved for your upcoming retirement. Those concerns definitely aren’t unfounded as 40 million households in America have no retirement savings at all.
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Will Moving Out of Illinois Reduce Your Tax Burden?
Audio Blog: If you live and/or own a business in Illinois, you know that taxes have continued to rise. To put it simply, it’s a tough time to be a resident. That’s why many individuals and companies are looking for ways to move out of state and reduce their tax burden.
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A Primer on the Complexities of Gift Tax and Estate Tax
You likely already know that the tax code places limits on the amounts that individuals can gift to others (as money or property) without paying taxes. This limit is meant to keep individuals from using gifts to avoid the estate tax that is imposed upon inherited assets. It can be a significant issue for family-owned businesses when the business owner dies, and the business has to be sold to pay the resulting inheritance (estate) taxes. This is, in large part, why high-net-worth individuals invest in estate planning.
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The Unexpected Tax Consequences from Crowdfunding
Many crowdfunding platforms such as GoFundMe, Kickstarter and Indiegogo have fees ranging from 5% to 9%. Each platform specifies its own charges, limitations, and withdrawal processes. And in addition to those fees, funds raised may be taxable, depending on the purpose of the campaign. Here’s how each type of crowdfunding goal is taxed.
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What You Need to Know About Illinois’ NEW Minimum Wage Credit
Beginning January 1, 2020, Illinois has a new Minimum Wage Credit. Employers with 50 or less full-time equivalent employees and that have employees that had been earning less than the required minimum wage but are now being paid the required minimum wage.
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Do You Know the Tax Advantages of Employer-Offered Benefits?
Which benefits offered by your employer are you taking advantage of? Do you know all of the benefits available to you? Not only do many employer-offered benefits provide impactful resources to you and your family, but some save you significant money and taxes. Below is a list of benefits that your employer may offer and the tax benefits of each. If you’re unsure of what is available to you, we recommend asking your employer for more information.
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Are You Prepared for the January 31st 1099-MISC Filing Date?
Because so many fraudulent tax returns are filed right after e-filing opens up in January, the IRS requires 1099-MISCs for NEC to be filed by January 31st and will not release refunds for individual income tax returns that include the earned income tax credit until the NEC amounts can be verified.
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What Is the Statute of Limitations on Unpaid Taxes?
Tax debt can quickly snowball from interest, penalties, late fees, and the amount of the taxes due. And if you have unpaid taxes that you haven’t yet been making payments toward, it might make you fearful that the IRS will come knocking one day. However, a lot of the scaremongering surrounding the IRS is largely sensationalized in media and daily conversation. Rest assured, agents won’t come bursting through your door just because you have tax debt.
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Giving Back Responsibly: 3 Year-End Tips for Making Charitable Contributions
As the end of the year approaches and the holiday season brings on the spirit of giving, we will all see an uptick in the number of charitable solicitations arriving in our inboxes. And since some charities sell their contributor lists to other charities, frequent contributors may find themselves besieged by requests from unfamiliar organizations.
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Year-End Payroll Checkup: 3 Most Commonly Missed Fringe Benefits on W-2s
With the year soon coming to an end, it’s time to think about year-end tax compliance, including W-2 reporting. While your outside payroll provider can report usual salary and wages without any issues, we often see errors in which employers don’t provide the W-2 preparer with taxable non-cash fringe benefits. Fringe benefits must be computed and included in employees’ wages prior to December 31 in order to allow for the timely withholding and depositing of payroll taxes.
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