There are an abundant number of provisions that provide tax relief to small businesses this year. Just so that you don’t overlook any of these benefits, or in case your business would like to position itself to take advantage of some before the close of the year, here is a brief rundown on many of the business benefits that are available for 2011. Some of these provisions are currently set to expire after December 31, 2011. Click here to read more! (PDF)

On October 19, 2011, the Social Security Administration announced that the 2012 Social Security contribution and benefit base will be $110,100. This is $3,300 more than the base of $106,800 which has been in effect the last three years. The Social Security Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program sets an annual maximum limit (called the contribution and benefit base) on the amount of earnings subject to the Social Security OASDI tax. Employers must deduct Social Security taxes from their employees’ pay and contribute to Social Security taxes themselves on total OASDI-covered wages paid to each employee, up to the annual OASDI contribution limit. The OASDI limit typically changes each year with changes in the national average wage index.

Now is the ideal time to ensure that employers and employees understand the E-Verify and the federal employment eligibility verification processes. E-Verify is a fast, free, and easy to use internet-based service run by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration that allows employers to verify the eligibility of their newly hired employees to legally work in the United States. All US employers are already required to complete and retain a Form I-9 — the “Employment Eligibility Verification” form — for each person they hire in the United States. That includes citizens and non-citizens. E-Verify takes the Form I-9 process one step further. It compares information provided on a Form I-9 against information in government records. In most cases, in just seconds, E-Verify tells the employer if an employee is eligible to work in the US. E-Verify isn’t a database, but simply a secure way for employers to check new employee’s employment eligibility information against existing records in the Social Security Administration, DHS and the State Department — depending upon which form of identification the employee presents, and the employee’s citizenship or immigration status.  (more…)

We have compiled a checklist of actions based on current tax rules that may help you save tax dollars if you act before year-end. Regardless of what Congress does late this year or early next, solid tax savings can  be realized by taking advantage of tax breaks that are on the books for 2011. For individuals, these include:

• the option to deduct state and local sales and use taxes instead of state and local income taxes;
• the above-the-line deduction for qualified higher education expenses; and
• tax-free distributions by those age 70-1/2 or older from IRAs for charitable purposes. (more…)

There are an abundant number of provisions that provide tax relief to small businesses this year.  Just so that you don’t overlook any of these benefits, or in case your business would like to position itself to take advantage of some before the close of the year, here is a brief rundown on many of the business benefits that are available for 2011.  Some of these provisions are currently set to expire after December 31, 2011. (more…)

2011 has produced some significant gyrations in the financial markets that have had an impact on everyone’s portfolios.  But for tax purposes, gains and losses are not measured by the increased or decreased value of your portfolio, but by gains and losses recognized from the sale of capital assets during the year.  So you still have until the end of the year to structure your gains and losses to suit your particular tax situation. (more…)

FinCEN is the acronym for the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.  FinCEN is a government-wide, multisource, financial intelligence and analysis network tasked with detecting money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion, and other financial crimes.  To do its job, FinCEN must collect financial data from a multitude of sources, including each U.S. person with connections to foreign financial transactions.  This has resulted in a number of reporting requirements imposed upon taxpayers that many are unaware can result in draconian penalties for non-compliance. (more…)

Hiring independent contractors instead of employees can save a lot of money in employment taxes and employee benefits.  And it can be a mine field of tax problems if workers are misclassified as independent contractors when they should have been treated as employees. (more…)

It is becoming increasingly common for couples to live together and remain unmarried, which can lead to potential tax problems when they share the expenses of a home but only one of the couple is liable for the debt on that home.  (more…)