How secure is your tax data?

How secure is private tax data following a “historic leak of taxpayer information” over three years ago? That’s the focus of a letter sent by U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) to IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. Two leaks by an IRS contractor exposed tax data of former President Donald Trump and […]

How much of my Social Security is taxable? It varies by state

How much of my Social Security is taxable? It varies by state – USA TODAY https://bit.ly/3vG3q3y

What’s the difference between a deduction and a credit?

One of the most common misunderstandings about filing an income tax return is the difference between deductions and credits. Deductions reduce the amount of a taxpayer’s income before tax is calculated. For example, on your individual return, you can either take the standard deduction or itemize deductions if it will reduce your taxable income more. […]

Congress has a deal to expand the Child Tax Credit

Congress has a deal to expand the Child Tax Credit. Here’s who would benefit. – CBS News https://bit.ly/3S19yuK

IRS reminds taxpayers about account options

Now that Jan. 29 has been announced as the start of the 2024 tax season, the IRS is reminding taxpayers about free tools that can make filing easier. It strongly encourages taxpayers to set up accounts at irs.gov/account to file, make payments, monitor the status of refunds, manage tax records and electronically sign power of […]

The kiddie tax could affect your children until they’re young adults

The so-called “kiddie tax” can cause some of a child’s unearned income to be taxed at the parent’s higher marginal federal income tax rates instead of at the usually much lower rates that a child would otherwise pay. For purposes of this federal income tax provision, a “child” can be up to 23 years old. […]

Tax Season opening day set by IRS

Mark your calendar for Jan. 29! The IRS announced that’s the date the 2024 tax season opens, meaning it’s the first day the tax agency will accept tax returns. It expects more than 128.7 million individual tax returns to be filed by the April 15 tax deadline. The agency recommends taxpayers file electronically with direct […]

Does your business have employees who get tips? You may qualify for a tax credit

If you’re an employer with a business where tipping is routine when providing food and beverages, you may qualify for a federal tax credit involving the Social Security and Medicare (FICA) taxes that you pay on your employees’ tip income. Credit fundamentals The FICA credit applies to tips that your staff members receive from customers […]

IRS funding may be reduced in proposed 2024 spending proposal

Under a recently announced bipartisan fiscal year 2024 spending proposal, a portion of IRS funding initially provided by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) may be rescinded sooner than first announced. The IRA provided the IRS $80 billion in new funding. Subsequent legislation has chipped away at that amount. The Fiscal Responsibility Act cut $1.4 billion. […]

6 tips to improve job-costing systems

Companies that work on customer-specific or long-term projects — such as homebuilders, contractors, custom manufacturers and professional practices — generally track job costs to gauge the profitability of each project. In turn, this helps them bid future projects. Unfortunately, the job-costing process tends to be cumbersome, causing some expenses to inadvertently fall through the cracks […]