After disaster strikes, people often want to help those in need. Unfortunately, this is also when fake charities pop up. The IRS recently reported an uptick in emerging charity scams since hurricanes Harvey, Irma and others made landfall.
Every year taxpayers are hit with tax surprises that could be avoided if they just knew the rules. Here are three big ones that are easy to avoid with some simple planning.
As September comes to a close, it’s interesting to look at a few market proverbs compared with how markets have been performing. “Sell in May and go away” refers to the strategy of booking profits at the end of May each year and waiting out a traditionally down time in the market. If you subscribed to this strategy in 2017, you would have missed out on the S&P 500 rising more than 4% over the summer (June 1 – Sept 29).
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a tool that students use to apply for more than $120 billion in federal funds. Unfortunately, each year many students miss out.
Section 179 expensing can be a very powerful tax-planning tool for small- and medium-sized businesses acquiring capital assets. While it doesn’t change the amount of depreciation you can take over the life of a capital purchase, it can change
If you have an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) rather than a Social Security number (SSN) you may need to take action or you’ll be unable to file a tax return for 2017.
The tuition and fees deduction expired last year. Fortunately, you may still be able to benefit from other education tax benefits, including the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) and the Lifetime Learning Credit.
As August comes to a close, school is back in session, football has returned, the leaves are starting to turn, and we look back on what has been an interesting month in the markets. The August market saw its share of volatility, fueled early on by the threats and tension from North Korea. As tensions eased, and with the help of potential tax cuts and decent economic data, markets were able to recoup most of the month’s initial losses.
Is a worker an independent contractor or an employee? As an employer, getting this wrong could land you with an IRS audit and cost you plenty in many other ways. Here’s what you should know:
