politoeppichblog.com

Failure to File and/or Pay Taxes

Jessica Dorsett, CPA — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:30:16 +0000

Most people know April 15th (April 17th in 2012) is the due date of your individual income tax return. You may request a six month extension allowing you to file your return by October 15th without penalties. However, if you fail to request the extension timely or if you don’t file your return by the [...]

It’s Your Money Not Theirs

Paul M. Polito, CPA — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:30:58 +0000

Clients, Friends and Fans,Sunday night Don and Paul were guests on the radio show “It’s your money not theirs” hosted by our good friend and former partner, Richard Muscio. The show airs every Sunday at 7 p.m. on 760 KFMB. We talked about entity selection and borrowing from traditional lenders like banks. We have added some [...]

B is for Bad Debt (Personal)

Jessica Dorsett, CPA — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:30:07 +0000

We often think of bad debt in the business sense. However, from time to time we run into a non business or personal bad debt. Believe it or not, the IRS allows you to deduct this loss… but there’s a catch. It is treated as a short term capital loss and therefore is subject to [...]

B is for Bad Debt (Business)

Jessica Dorsett, CPA — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:30:52 +0000

In some instances bad debts may be written off. Here we’ll look at what factors must be present in order to take a deduction. For Accrual Method Taxpayers: When using the accrual accounting method, management estimates an allowance for bad debts based on several factors such as prior experience, industry comparisons, the debtor’s ability to [...]

A is for AUTO EXPENSES

Jessica Dorsett, CPA — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:30:29 +0000

Business auto expenses… it’s an area of the tax law that can be confusing and lead to abuse. Businesses have two methods available for determining the most beneficial expense. The following will explain each approach. For a business, a vehicle can be deducted in two ways; actual expense and mileage. When using actual expense, the [...]

This is Your Blog Too!!

Jessica Dorsett, CPA — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:30:55 +0000

I can’t believe this blog will celebrate its two year anniversary in April. I think we should have a party! Oh wait, we already do… it’s our “end of tax season” party. We’ve had our ups and downs but I’m proud of us for sticking with it. Our staff stays very busy and sometimes posting a [...]

A-Z Series – A is for Adoption Expense

Jessica Dorsett, CPA — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:30:58 +0000

We are starting two A to Z series (one for individual taxes and one for entity taxes) which will run through tax season. We hope to bring you some useful information about the tax world. As always, if there is a topic you’d like us to write on, please e-mail us your requests! We love [...]

IRS Announces Cost of Living Adjustments

Sandra Miller, CPA — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:30:12 +0000

The Internal Revenue Service announced cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other tax benefits for Tax Year 2012. The highlights include: 401(k), 403(b) and most 457 plans elective deferral increased from $16,500 to $17,000 (Catch-up contribution limit for those aged 50 and over remains unchanged at $5,500) Defined benefit plan [...]

Time may be running out for large tax-free gifts!

Paul M. Polito, CPA — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:30:37 +0000

Early this year, Congress passed a two-year revision of the Estate tax law. One of the elements of this “two year wonder” is that the amount exempt from gift tax was increased to $5 million. This meant that a married couple with proper estate planning in place could gift up to $10 million to heirs [...]

Year-End Tax Planning, Part 2

Faye Sheng, CPA — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:30:45 +0000

I previously compiled a list of year-end tax planning strategies for individuals. Here is a list of year-end strategies for businesses and business owners: 1. Businesses should consider making expenditures that qualify for the business property expensing option. Code sec. 179 expense: For tax years beginning in 2010 and 2011, the expensing limit is $500,000 [...]