It’s a fact … Your rental properties can provide a valuable tax shelter when you deduct your rental losses against other income. One important step to take if you want to deduct your losses is to pass the tax code’s 750-hour test. It’s one of the ways taxpayers get to prove that they are real-estate professionals. (See more about this below.) Looking for ways to accrue … [Read more...]
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Tax planning for a winter in Florida, a summer in Massachusetts
Want to trade the cold winters up north for the warmth of your tax-deductible sunny Florida home? And in the summer, wouldn’t it be great to move back again to your cooler Massachusetts personal residence? You can do it and deduct your trips between the two locations if you know the tax law. We’ll explain three tax-planning basics that apply to these travels, whether … [Read more...]
Warning: Your “personal home” is not your “tax home”
“Home sweet home.” Sounds lovely doesn’t it? But if you’re not careful, Uncle Sam can turn things sour, fast. You see, the IRS makes a crucial distinction between your “personal home” and your “tax home.” And if you don’t know the difference between the two, and handle things the wrong way, you could lose valuable business-vehicle deductions. Want to make sure you stay … [Read more...]
Slash Self-Employment Taxes By Renting From Your Spouse
Do you operate your business as a sole proprietor? If you do, you know that Uncle Sam helps himself to a big chunk of your profits in the form of self-employment taxes. To be specific, he’s taking a full 14.13-percent! (That’s 92.35% of the published 15.3 percent because there’s a reduction on Schedule SE.) But hang on a second. There is something you can do to … [Read more...]
Avoid business-mileage “metropolitan area” hassles (Part 2)
In a recent issue of the Tax Reduction Letter, we explained how to keep IRS “temporary work location” rules from destroying your business mileage deductions. In this new issue of the Tax Reduction Letter we’ll demystify the IRS’s complicated “metropolitan area” rules that also impact your business mileage deductions. Leave it to the IRS and the courts to make business … [Read more...]