Employers and other organizations got some good news from the IRS for the start of the new year. The tax agency announced that it’s extending the due dates for filing 2015 Affordable Care Act (ACA) information returns. This gives employers extra time to complete two tasks: Provide the forms to the recipients and File the forms...

The following table provides some important federal tax information for 2016, as compared with 2015. Many of the dollar amounts are unchanged or have changed only slightly due to low inflation. Other amounts are changing due to legislation. Social Security/ Medicare 2016 2015 Social Security Tax Wage Base $118,500 $118,500 Medicare Tax Wage Base No limit...

This holiday season, taxpayers are receiving a “gift” from Washington, D.C. It’s the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 or, simply, the PATH Act. It does more than just extend expired tax provisions for another year. The bipartisan deal makes about one-third of these tax provisions permanent. Many others have been extended for periods ranging...

As you know, towards the end of 2014 many commonly used income tax deductions and credits were retroactively re-instated to the beginning of 2014, only to expire again as of December 31, 2014. 50% bonus depreciation for qualifying new assets, increased section 179 first year write-off, as well as the credit for increasing research and...

There can be negative tax consequences when purported loan payments are recast as corporate distributions to shareholders. In some cases, the courts have ruled that withdrawals from two closely held corporations were constructive corporate distributions rather than loan proceeds and repayments. As such, the withdrawals triggered taxable dividends and capital gains for the shareholders. Corporate Distribution Basics...

Virtually all small business owners are frustrated with our current tax system. In fact, five out of today’s Top 10 small business concerns relate to state and federal tax issues, according to the Small Business Problems and Priorities survey released by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), a small business advocacy group. Small businesses are...