The recently passed tax-reform law has a lot to say about fringe benefits for shareholder-employees who own more than 2-percent of their S corporations. The good news? Federal tax law lets you treat the cost of fringe benefits as deductible expenses for your S corporation. The bad news? If you’re a more than 2-percent shareholder, you may have to pay additional taxes … [Read more...]
Tax Policy
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How to prove travel expenses after tax reform
As you may know, recent tax-reform rules have left travel expense deductions pretty much intact. This means your travel meals are still tax deductible (subject to the 50-percent cut), and there have been no changes to the rules that govern your other travel expense deductions. What also hasn’t changed is the IRS's requirement that you back up all your travel expenses with … [Read more...]
A loophole lets you deduct hobby expenses after tax reform
Let me give you the bad news right at the top… Tax reform has killed the ability for you to deduct your hobby expenses. But — and this is an extremely important “but” — if you sell items as part of your hobby activity, the IRS allows you to deduct the cost of those items if you handle things the right way. That’s right. Thanks to an obscure rule that the Tax Reduction … [Read more...]
How to defeat IRS penalties
Okay. You made a mistake. You failed to file a tax return or didn’t pay the government what you owed. The result? The IRS hit you with an expensive penalty. Does this mean you’re out of luck and have to fork over a lot of cash? Not necessarily! If you know how to use the IRS’s “first-time abatement procedure,” you can very possibly get the penalty waived. We’ll tell … [Read more...]
Tax reform deals professional gamblers a losing hand
If you’re a professional gambler, I sure hope you’re on a lucky streak. Because if you’re not, tax reform just cost you a lot of money. To put this simply, lawmakers were never the professional gambler’s friend, but now, thanks to tax reform changes, your government is even less willing to cut you a break. My advice? Before you head over to the casino, take a minute and … [Read more...]