The topic of taxes you pay on your investments probably has as much appeal as a root canal. That’s especially true if you invest in mutual funds, which are required to distribute realized gains and income to shareholders. Over the 10 years through 2012, the actual return to investors in the average stock mutual fund shrank

Essential S corporation basis rules for deducting losses An S corporation shareholder reports all flow-through income or loss from the entity that is proportionate to stock ownership on his or her individual federal income tax return. This creates a corresponding adjustment to the basis of the shareholder’s corporate shares. Fundamentally, a basis increase will arise

While you can qualify to deduct a renovation, sometimes it is better to claim the amount as a credit if the expense was to make your location accessible to the disabled. Many charges qualify and the credit is 50% of the first $10,000 or up to 5,000 in credit. This is a credit which goes

There are requirements to start distributions on IRA’s in the event you are age 70.5 years of age by April 01 in any year. This is called Required Minimum Distributions or RMD and must be taken by December 31 of each year after achieving age 70.5.  If your spouse is more than 10 younger than

IRS to go – for your mobile phone  Check the status of your refund.  The new version of IRS2Go includes an easy-to-use refund status tracker so taxpayers can follow their tax return step-by-step throughout the IRS process. Just enter your Social Security number, filing status and your expected refund amount. You can start checking on

Same Sex Marriages for Federal Tax Purposes and State Purposes On August 29, 2013, the IRS announced that, beginning with the 2014 tax filing season, they will use a “state of celebration” standard for recognizing marriages.  This is to mean any couple possessing a valid marriage license from any state, may file a joint return

Form 1040—U.S. Individual Income Tax Return—Filing Status Same-sex couples. Same-sex spouses who legally married on or before Dec. 31, 2013 in a state that recognizes same-sex marriage must file as married filed jointly or married filing separately, even if they now live in a state that does not recognize same-sex marriage. For this purpose, “state” means

There are a number of deductions for education and things to consider on it.  Student Expenses  Claiming a student’s expenses on the parent’s tax return where you can claim up to $4,000 in educational costs. Note that the deduction for this may be phased out depending upon your income.  Also consider listing the educational expense

These often have been associated with a higher incidence of IRS audit because the IRS did not believe many people qualified legitimately for this deduction. And in truth, many people exaggerated the amounts. To make things easier and cleaner, the IRS came out and said you can use a safe harbor method but only if

It makes sense to have a small business in a Sub S format for tax purposes regardless of whether you are formally licenses by the State as a corporation(Inc)  or a limited liability company (LLC). We don’t see problems in them usually unless there are losses. In those circumstances, the IRS requires those losses to