Which Items are Tax Deductible when Selling a House?
When you list your house on the market, you’re probably thinking about how much money you’ll make or where you want to move next, not about your taxes. A home sale does have tax implications which can either help or hurt you in April.
Find out everything you need to know about selling a house and personal income taxes before you plan on spending the profits from selling your home.
Which Common Home Selling Costs are Deductible?
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Change is a constant part of life. With each change, adjustments have to be made. Certain changes in our lives puts us in a different tax category or changes how we need to file our taxes. Legally, we may come under different rules and requirements. There are tax advantages or credits that come with some of life's changes. Below are a few events that can take place in your life where you may need some professional guidance with the filing of your taxes.
Getting Married
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A non-profit organization can have several definitions depending on the perspective of the people discussing the matter and the context of the discussion. To the layman, the term generally means a charitable institution or perhaps a church, or an organization which provides assistance to the community which isn't provided by the government.
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To succeed in business, small business owners must keep a close eye on expenses. Poor expense management can destroy your profit on a project or business venture. A component of expense management is expense tracking.
If you’re not keeping track of your expenses, it’s easy to go over budget. Even if you’re still making a profit and don’t think you need to pay close attention to them, if you don’t have good records you won’t be able to take all your allowable deductions on your taxes.
How important is it to Track Business Expenses?
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Going into business with a partner can be a great way to spread risk, to draw on each other’s skill sets, and to combine resources to grow your business. But, at some point, the partnership may not be serving either you or the business well. It might be time to dissolve it.
Dissolving a partnership is a delicate affair. It should be done in a respectful but efficient manner, and in a way that won’t hurt the surviving business.
Signs that it’s Time to Dissolve a Partnership
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Many small businesses open business credit cards to help meet their capital needs. Roughly 67% of business owners have business credit cards, but less than half of them use them as their primary spending source.
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Don’t Mix the Personal and the Business; Keeping Finances Separate
When you launched your business you might not have paid much attention to keeping your personal and business finances separate. If a vendor needed to be paid you grabbed the closest checkbook and wrote out a check, even if it was a personal account. It’s not a big deal since it’s all yours, right?
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Travel and entertainment are legitimate deductions, but few business owners take full advantage of them. One reason may be that they fear that the deduction will be challenged by the IRS and they’ll have to undergo the scrutiny of an audit. Another reason may be because the owner is unsure of how to take the deductions or what’s allowed and what’s not allowed. To be clear, travel and entertainment are allowable deductions. the IRS understands that much of business is conducted over drinks, meals or on the golf course. Travel is also an obvious necessary to conduct business.
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A recent study confirmed that over 16 million people were the victims of identity theft in the span of one year in America alone, which resulted in $16.8 billion in stolen money. Identity theft is dangerous to your wallet and to your credit. Identity thieves use your information to take out loans, obtain credit cards, make purchases, get apartment leases and much more.
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If you’re a small business owner struggling to make payments on credit cards and loans you might have been wondering if consolidating your debt would be a good idea. Debt consolidation companies often target those with high balances, sending letters and calling with promises to lower your monthly payments and save you money.
But do these companies really do what they promise, and can they help your business? Here’s everything you should know before applying to take out a debt consolidation loan.
What is Debt Consolidation?
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Most small business owners hope to, or plan to, grow. When you open one café you may have dreams of a nationwide chain. The first product you use to launch your manufacturing business could be one of many designs you have mapped out.
But how do you know when it’s actually time to open that second café? Or start ordering the supplies to make that new product? Actually taking that step can be nerve wracking, but knowing what signs to look for and how to prepare for growth can make the growth process a lot less scary.
What are the Signs it’s Time to Grow?
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When it comes to getting work done in your business, you have the option of hiring independent contractors or traditional employees. Both types of workers can get the job done, but there are pros and cons of each that you need to be aware of.
Pros of Hiring Employees
There’s a reason why most companies make the commitment to hire traditional employees over independent contractors. Most companies need the stability of having the same employees day after day, in addition to the following three benefits.
Higher Qualifications
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Does your company have problems getting paid on time? Certain industries are more vulnerable to this than others, but every business owner has experienced it at least once. There are effective strategies for always getting paid on time that really work. If you put these into place in your company, you may find that you have fewer and fewer overdue payment issues as time goes on.
Don’t Let Receivables Age Too Long
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Two of the biggest concerns of those who are investing for retirement are not running out of money and maintaining regular cash flow. It can be difficult to switch from a bi-weekly paycheck to carefully timed withdrawals from a retirement account. Market fluctuations cause balances to rise and fall, leaving an investor with less in their account than they’d planned.
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Small business owners quickly learn the importance of monitoring their cash flow. The flow of money in and out of your business can impact everything from the stock you have to sell to keeping the lights on. In a perfect world, your cash flows would align.
All of our customers would pay their bills before your invoices came due. Or you’d pay the food vendor after a busy weekend of full tables in your restaurant. But this isn’t always the case.
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The percentage of tax returns being audited each year has steadily declined, due in part to dwindling government resources. Still, if you’ve been notified of a pending audit, those percentages don’t mean much. The only thing that matters is the situation that you’re now in. There are two kinds of audits; in person and by mail. It’s disconcerting to receive an audit notification, no matter what kind. If you find yourself in this situation, here’s how to handle it.
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Managing your company’s accounts receivables is one of the most critical aspects of fiscal health. Yet, many business owners fail to effectively handle their accounts receivables, either directly or indirectly. Poor accounts receivables policies can lead to a bevy of problems involving client relations, cash flow, tax return complications and even legal issues. Seven of the biggest mistakes in handling accounts receivables are outlined here, with advice about how to avoid each one.
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As we get deeper into the 2019 tax season, some taxpayers are experiencing a delay in receiving their tax refunds. The old adage that if you are expecting a refund you should file early seems to be coming under fire a bit in recent years, but none so much as the 2019 tax season. But why?
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With the acceptance of the Tax Cuts and Job Act reform, we are now seeing the results of one of the most expansive tax law changes in nearly thirty years. With this came large changes to the forms and reporting structures themselves. No longer are Forms 1040-A or 1040-EZ available for use – everyone must file utilizing Form 1040. While the Form 1040 itself is greatly reduced, there is additional paperwork that may need to be completed in order to properly calculate your tax breaks and deduction. In June of 2018, the IRS released the first drafts of the form for review by
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There are three financial statements that every company needs to understand, review and produce, on an annual basis, at a minimum. These consist of the Profit and Loss statement (P&L), Balance Sheet (BASH) and the Cash Flow statement. The profit and loss statement, also commonly known as the income statement, shows the changes in the company’s profitability over the course of time. The profit and loss can be reported in either the Cash or Accrual method. The cash flow statement is similar, however it shows the company’s income and outlays in a cash methodology only.
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One of the hardest things to do as a parent is to leave your child in someone else’s care so that you can go back to work. Sometimes, preparing for the cost of that care can be nearly as difficult. Some care centers can cost more than in-state tuition at a university.
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Taxpayers know that there are tax deductions out there to be utilized to reduce the taxes paid on your income. Most are aware of the common deductions, but there are many deductions that simply get overlooked by most taxpayers.
Gifts to charity is a good place to start. Most taxpayers know that when you give a gift of money or items to a qualified charity, you can deduct the value of this gift, with proper documentation. One common item that gets missed is the miles that you drove or out-of-pocket expenses you paid for the charities benefit.
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Now that tax season is here, the early indications of the effects the 2017 Tax Reform are starting to show. While fewer people have filed their returns than this time period in past years, the data is showing that more and more Americans are seeing lower refunds than in years past. Many taxpayers did not understanding the full implications of the tax reform and failed to make the proper changes. Since we are still relatively early in the year, now is the time to review those possible changes for 2019.
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We often think that having a home in multiple states is a great idea, and sometimes we contemplate working while traveling between these homes. In some cases, our jobs take us to multiple locations. What happens when we work in multiple states throughout the year?
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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 has led to changes in the way companies choose to be taxed. Prior to the tax reform, many businesses were required to use the accrual method of accounting. But with the change in tax law, businesses with $25 million or less in annual revenue over the prior three years can use the cash method. More businesses are choosing the cash method of accounting instead of the previous accrual method, but what is the difference between cash and accrual methods of accounting?
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In recent years, the economy has been having its share of ups and downs. When businesses and private citizens want to secure financing from financial institutions to make large purchases, the economy can greatly influence the bank’s willingness to loan funds. In an unknown or down-turned economy, the installment sale lends itself as a great alternative option. An installment sale occurs when property is sold with at least one payment being made in the year of the sale, and at least one payment being made in the tax year after the sale is completed. Generally, the buyer will make regular
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Most of the time, children are considered to be an extension of their parents when it comes to legal application until the age of majority. Therefore, many taxpayers are surprised to learn their child is a separate taxpayer, even as a minor. If your child has enough income, he or she has an obligation to file a return and pay the tax. In some cases, you may include their income on your tax return; in others, they'll have to file their own tax return, or you will have to file a separate return on their behalf. Whether this is required depends on both the amount and source of the minor's
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“You should sell those.” It’s a phrase many people have heard when showing someone their crafts. When does a hobby become a business? Is it when you first start selling your items? Is it when you first turn a profit? When can you start deducting expenses against the income?
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In recent years, raising money online through third-party backers, or crowdfunding, has grown in popularity. Originally utilized mostly by musicians, filmmakers and for other creative endeavors, it has now become a more widespread method of raising money for a trip, medical expense, or startup, and is often a quicker and easier alternative than conventional fundraising. Often the creator of a campaign puts little thought to the tax ramifications before launching and collecting the funds. With this increase in utilization, the business of its taxation has become an increasing question. W
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With the close of 2018, we begin to look ahead to 2019 and ensuring that we set ourselves up for a good tax outcome at year end. There are many things to consider as you move through the tax year and some require pre-planning to ensure maximum benefit.
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