Happy Father’s Day

“Good dads forgive your mistakes. Great dads help you hide them from mom.” —Bill Gray Wishing you a safe and happy Father’s Day!

IRA offers contractors a tax credit for energy-efficient homes

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, construction contractors who build or rehab energy-efficient homes may be eligible for a federal tax credit of up to $5,000 per project. A home must be a U.S. single-family dwelling that’s purchased or rented for use as a residence. It also must be certified to meet energy-saving requirements before it’s […]

Uploads to the IRS hits the one million mark

The IRS’s Document Upload Tool (DUT) has now surpassed one million submissions since it launched in 2021. During the first six months of fiscal year 2024, more than 265,000 taxpayers used the tool. The DUT offers taxpayers and tax professionals the option to respond digitally to eligible IRS notices by securely uploading required documents online […]

The Child Care for American Families Act introduced

The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a bipartisan bill that would increase the amount of the Section 45F tax credit a business can claim for investing in eligible childcare services for its employees. Dubbed the “Child Care for American Families Act,” the bill places special emphasis on small businesses and those located in low-income […]

Federal regulators expand overtime pay requirements, ban most noncompete agreements

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a new final rule regarding the salary threshold for determining whether employees are exempt from federal overtime pay requirements. The threshold is slated to jump 65% from its current level by 2025 and is expected to make four million additional workers eligible for overtime pay. On the same […]

Business deductions of Net Operating Losses

Generally, business taxpayers can deduct a net operating loss (NOL) from income when filing a tax return, but they bear the burden of showing an NOL is valid. Tax law defines an NOL as the excess of deductions over gross income. One couple was denied an NOL deduction on their joint return. Reasons for the […]

Using an IRA for college expenses

As any parent with a child in college knows, higher education is expensive. If you’re paying college costs for yourself or certain other people and money is tight, you might consider tapping your traditional IRA. Generally, if you’re under age 59½, tax law imposes a 10% “early withdrawal” penalty tax, unless an exception applies. One […]

A three-step strategy to save tax when selling appreciated vacant land

Let’s say you own one or more vacant lots. The property has appreciated greatly and you’re ready to sell. Or maybe you have a parcel of appreciated land that you want to subdivide into lots, develop them and sell them off for a big profit. Either way, you’ll incur a tax bill. For purposes of […]

Be careful when dealing with NFTs

Recently, the U.S. Treasury Department released a risk assessment report about nonfungible tokens (NFTs). It warns that NFTs are “highly susceptible” to use in fraud and money laundering schemes. Risk rises for NFT platforms and buyers when cybersecurity and antifraud controls aren’t adequate. Confusing copyright and trademark laws, as well as hype and fluctuating pricing […]

Is your home a money pit?

There’s a reason some homeowners refer to their residences as “money pits.” Owning and maintaining a home can be expensive. So it’s important to keep in mind the tax breaks available to homeowners, starting with the mortgage interest deduction. If you itemize deductions, you generally can deduct interest on up to $750,000 in mortgage debt […]