Tips for Self-Employed Taxpayers

If you are an independent contractor or run your own business, there are a few basic things to know when it comes to your federal tax return. Here are six tips you should know about income from self-employment:

• Self-employment income can include income you received for part-time work. This is in addition to income from your regular job.
• You must file a Schedule C, Profit or Loss from Business, or Schedule C-EZ, Net Profit from Business, with your Form 1040.
• You may have to pay self-employment tax as well as income tax if you made a profit. Self-employment tax includes Social Security and Medicare taxes. Use Schedule SE, Self-Employment Tax, to figure the tax. Make sure to file the schedule with your tax return.
• You may need to make estimated tax payments. People typically make these payments on income that is not subject to withholding. You may be charged a penalty if you do not pay enough taxes throughout the year.
• You can deduct some expenses you paid to run your trade or business. You can deduct most business expenses in full, but some must be ‘capitalized.’ This means you can deduct a portion of the expense each year over a period of years.
• You can deduct business costs only if they are both ordinary and necessary. An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your industry. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and proper for your trade or business.

Questions? We have answers. Give us a call!

Tips for Taxpayers with Foreign Income

If you are living or working outside the United States, you generally must file and pay your tax in the same way as people living in the U.S. This includes people with dual citizenship. If you’re a taxpayer with foreign income, here’s what you should know:

1. Report Worldwide Income. The law requires U.S. citizens and resident aliens to report any worldwide income. This includes income from foreign trusts, and foreign bank and securities accounts.

2. Review the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. Many Americans who live and work abroad qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion. This means taxpayers who qualify will not pay taxes on up to $99,200 of their wages and other foreign earned income they received in 2014. Please contact us if you have any questions about foreign earned income exclusion.

3. Don’t Overlook Credits and Deductions. Taxpayers may be able to take either a credit or a deduction for income taxes paid to a foreign country. This benefit reduces the taxes these taxpayers pay in situations where both the U.S. and another country tax the same income.

4. File Required Tax Forms. In most cases, affected taxpayers need to file Schedule B, Interest and Ordinary Dividends, with their tax returns. Some taxpayers may need to file additional forms with the Treasury Department such as Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets or FinCEN Form 114 (formerly TD F 90-22.1), Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (“FBAR”). Please contact us if you’re not sure which forms you need to file.

5. Report Foreign Accounts and Assets. Federal law requires U.S. citizens and resident aliens to report any worldwide income, including income from foreign trusts and foreign bank and securities accounts. In most cases, affected taxpayers need to fill out and attach Schedule B to their tax return. Certain taxpayers may also have to fill out and attach to their return Form 8938, Statement of Foreign Financial Assets.

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Six Tips for Year-End Gifts to Charity

If you’re thinking about making a charitable donation during the holiday season this year and want to claim a tax deduction for your gifts, you must itemize your deductions. This is just one of several tax rules that you should know about before you give. Here’s what else you need to know:

1. Qualified charities. You can only deduct gifts you give to qualified charities. Give us a call if you’re not sure if the group you give to is a qualified organization. Remember that you can deduct donations you give to churches, synagogues, temples, mosques and government agencies.

2. Monetary donations. Gifts of money include those made in cash or by check, electronic funds transfer, credit card and payroll deduction. You must have a bank record or a written statement from the charity to deduct any gift of money on your tax return. This is true regardless of the amount of the gift. The statement must show the name of the charity and the date and amount of the contribution. Bank records include canceled checks, or bank, credit union and credit card statements. If you give by payroll deductions, you should retain a pay stub, a Form W-2 wage statement or other document from your employer. It must show the total amount withheld for charity, along with the pledge card showing the name of the charity.

3. Household goods. Household items include furniture, furnishings, electronics, appliances and linens. If you donate clothing and household items to charity they generally must be in at least good used condition to claim a tax deduction. If you claim a deduction of over $500 for an item it doesn’t have to meet this standard if you include a qualified appraisal of the item with your tax return.

4. Records required. You must get an acknowledgment from a charity for each deductible donation (either money or property) of $250 or more. Additional rules apply to the statement for gifts of that amount. This statement is in addition to the records required for deducting cash gifts. However, one statement with all of the required information may meet both requirements.

5. Year-end gifts. You can deduct contributions in the year you make them. If you charge your gift to a credit card before the end of the year it will count for 2014. This is true even if you don’t pay the credit card bill until 2015. Also, a check will count for 2014 as long as you mail it in 2014.

6. Special rules. Special rules apply if you give a car, boat or airplane to charity. For more information about this and other questions about charitable giving, please contact our office.

New Accounting Standards for Revenue Recognition

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) have approved new accounting rules on recognizing revenue in customer contracts.  The new rules are principles-based, eliminating most of the industry specific revenue recognition guidance by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America. This change will remove inconsistencies in existing revenue recognition standards and improve comparability of revenue recognition practices over a range of industries and geographic boundaries to provide more useful information to users of financial statements.

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New online tool to pay taxes

The new IRS Direct Pay lets taxpayers pay tax bills or make estimated tax payments directly from checking or savings accounts without any fees or pre-registration.