As the year draws to a close, there are several tax-saving ideas you should consider. Use this checklist to make sure you don’t miss an opportunity before the year is out.
Earlier this year, hackers were able to breach the security of Equifax, one of the three national credit reporting agencies. More than 143 million Americans – nearly half the entire country – were exposed to the attack, and may have had their personal information stolen (including names and birthdates, and Social Security and driver’s license numbers). Equifax is still determining exactly whose data has been exposed. While you wait to find out, it’s worth taking a few proactive steps to make sure your info isn’t misused by hackers.
Donations are a great way to give to a deserving charity, and they also give back in the form of a tax deduction. Unfortunately, charitable donations are under scrutiny by the IRS, and many donations without adequate documentation are being rejected.
Congratulations to Teri Yoder, Whitcomb & Hess Accounting Associate, for passing the Uniform CPA Examination in September!
Social Security recipients will receive a 2% increase in their benefit in 2018.
In August, we were pleased to welcome two new Investment Advisors, Tim Hilterman, CFP®, and Jake Buckwalter, to our Investment Advisory Team at Whitcomb & Hess.
On September 7, 2017, the credit monitoring company Equifax announced a “cybersecurity incident” involving unauthorized access to consumer information affecting up to 143 million customers.
As we ease into fall, let’s review the maximum contribution limits for Retirement Plans for 2017.
What is usually a quieter summer period was rudely interrupted by more geo-political drama and extreme weather events. Nevertheless, overall good news in economic data from Europe, UK, Japan, and Brazil helped markets continue to creep up. At the time of this publication, US Stocks are rallying to all-time highs. The S&P 500 Index (large US companies) is up 14.24% YTD while international holdings are up 19.17% according to the MSCI World ex-USA index.
