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Is Your Social Security Taxable?

By: Tax Advisors Tax Planning Views: 5262 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 1

Tax Advisors

Social Security benefits are taxed depending on your total income from all sources. Here is how to calculate how much of your Social Security benefits is taxable.   Provisional Income   Provisional income is your total worldwide income, including tax-exempt income, plus half of your Social Security benefits. 2. 3. 4. More

Google takes advantage of Irish tax law to cut its tax bill by billions

By: Academix Tax Planning Views: 9609 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Academix

Google Inc. cut its taxes by $3.1-billion in the past three years using a technique that moves most of its foreign profits through Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda. Google's income shifting -- involving strategies known to lawyers as the "Double Irish" and the "Dutch Sandwich" -- helped reduce its overseas tax rate to 2.4%, the lowest of the top five U.S. Treasury Department. Ms. More

Investors might face higher taxes on dividends next year

By: Tax Advisors Tax Planning Views: 5338 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 1

Tax Advisors

If the tax cuts are allowed to expire at the end of the year, stock dividends will be subject to a much higher tax. Right now, the tax on stock dividends typically is a maximum 15%. But if the Bush tax cuts expire and we revert to previous levels, dividends would be subject to an income-tax rate of as much as 39.6%. More

Will tax breaks help businesses grow payroll?

By: Peter Suhai Tax Planning Views: 4434 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Peter Suhai

Employers who hire people struggling to find work this year will reap tax benefits under a new federal law, but business groups say the law doesn’t go far enough. The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act was enacted March 18. It gives a payroll tax holiday to employers who hire people unemployed for 60 days or more beginning Feb. 4, 2010 through the end of this year. More

What is “Bad Debt” and How Can I Claim it for My Business?

By: Tax Advisors Tax Planning Views: 6037 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 1

Tax Advisors

Credit enables many customer transactions that would not otherwise be possible. If your business offers customer credit, you’ve most likely had someone unable to repay their debt. If you report these sales as income but cannot collect, the IRS calls this “business bad debt.” In these cases, the IRS allows you to deduct those debts to decrease your federal tax liability. More

What is a “Reasonable Salary Compensation?”

By: Steven Leibold, EA Tax Planning Views: 5040 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Steven Leibold, EA

  Who's an Employee of the Corporation? Generally, an officer of a corporation is an employee of the corporation.   Treasury regulations provide an exception for an officer of a corporation who does not perform any services or who performs only minor services and who neither receives nor is entitled to receive, directly or indirectly, any remuneration. More

IRS Focus on Foreign Athletes and Entertainers

By: Daniel Stoica Tax Planning Views: 3148 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Daniel Stoica

IRS has launched an Issue Management Team focused on improving U.S. income reporting and tax payment compliance by foreign athletes and entertainers who work in the United States. The initial focus is on those engaged in tennis, golf and music. These individuals and those associated with arranging their appearances in the U.S. They are required to file a U.S. More

Hefty tax bill may hit those who lost home

By: File Your Taxes Online Tax Planning Views: 3776 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

File Your Taxes Online

San Diegans who have lost their homes through foreclosure or short-sales thought they had emerged from the dark times and could start rebuilding their lives. Then the state tax man came calling. With less than six weeks before taxes are due, an estimated 16,000 former homeowners statewide will owe $15 million in extra income taxes this year and $29 million through 2012. H.D. 1, 2009. More

Out-of-state property owners tax being enforced

By: Tax Advisors Tax Planning Views: 5869 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Tax Advisors

Come Wednesday, property managers throughout California will be required to pay the state 7 percent of rental proceeds to cover out-of-state owners’ estimated income taxes — a nearly 50-year-old requirement that is now being enforced as the state struggles with billions of dollars in budget deficits. “For us, it’s a tax matter,” Voet said. “It’s slavery. More

Home Foreclosure and Debt Cancellation

By: Tax Advisors Tax Planning Views: 5626 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Tax Advisors

Home Foreclosure and Debt Cancellation The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 generally allows taxpayers to exclude income from the discharge of debt on their principal residence. Debt reduced through mortgage restructuring, as well as mortgage debt forgiven in connection with a foreclosure, qualifies for this relief. More