With health care, housing, food, and transportation costs increasing every year, many retirees on fixed incomes wonder how they can stretch their dollars even further. One solution is to move to another state where income taxes are lower than the one in which they currently reside. While federal tax rates are the same in every state, retirees may find that even if they move to a state with no income tax, there may be additional taxes they're liable for including sales taxes, excise taxes,...
Posts by Caras & Shulman
Taking Early Withdrawals From Retirement Accounts
While taking money out of a retirement fund before age 59 1/2 is usually not recommended, in certain cases, it may be unavoidable, especially during times of economic crisis. If you need cash and have a retirement fund you can tap, here's what you need to know. Background When retirement plans such as the 401(k) were introduced, company pensions were still the norm. Today, however, very few companies offer pensions anymore and most people rely entirely on social security and whatever savings...
Tax Treatment of Virtual Currency Transactions
Whether you’ve invested in Bitcoin and sold it at a profit or loss or received it for services performed, you’ll need to report it on your tax return. Prior to 2014, there was no IRS guidance and many people did not understand that selling virtual currency was a reportable transaction. They may have found themselves with a hefty tax bill — money they were hard-pressed to come up with at tax time. Others were unaware that they needed to report their transactions at all or failed to do so because it seemed too complicated.
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Tax Tips for October 2020
Under the Affordable Care Act, certain employers – known as applicable large employers – are subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions. You might be thinking about these topics as you make plans about 2021 health coverage for your employees.
If you are an employer that is subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions, you may choose either to offer affordable minimum essential coverage that provides minimum value to your full-time employees and their dependents or to potentially owe an employer shared responsibility payment to the IRS.
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Six Tips for Starting Your Own Business
Starting your own business can be an exciting prospect, but there is more to it than simply writing a business plan. Also, if you expect to have employees, there are a variety of federal and state forms and applications that you need to complete to get your business up and running. That's where a tax professional can help. With this in mind, let's take a look at what you need to know before you start a new business. 1. Business Entity The first decision you need to make is determining which...
Tax Tips September 2020
Form 1040-X has been one of the last major individual tax forms that still needed to be paper-filed, but now taxpayers can quickly correct previously filed tax returns by submitting Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return electronically using commercial tax-filing software.
Approximately 3 million Forms 1040-X are filed by taxpayers each year and taxpayers must mail a completed Form 1040-X to the IRS for processing. The new electronic option, however, allows the IRS to receive amended returns faster while minimizing errors normally associated with manually completing the form. The process is also simplified because the tax-filing software allows users to input their data in a question-answer format. The new form also makes it easier for IRS employees to answer taxpayer questions since the data is entered electronically and submitted to the agency almost simultaneously.
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Welcome to our New Website
We are pleased to announce the release of our new website, designed with a fresh new look and user-friendly navigation, and updated with the latest information about our team and services. You will now have access to our newsletter containing articles and advice on everything from trusts to taxes, as well as instructions and a link to our newly implemented client portal which allows you 24/7/365 secure access to all of your important financial documents. The partners and team at Caras &...