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Richard A. Chapo Profile and Articles
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51). Forming a Corporation – Investors
You’ve come up with the best idea since sliced bread, figured out a business name and formed a corporation. There is, however, one small problem. You
52). Incorporating Tips – Capitalization
Capitalizing a new business entity is a critical step of the formation process. Failing to take the step can lead to serious legal problems if the ent
53). Hybrid Vehicles and Tax Benefits
You have to love car dealers. With the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, car dealers are screaming about the tax benefits of buying these vehicles. Here’s the scoop.
Deductions and Credits
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 made a major modification to the tax benefits of owning a hybrid vehicle in an effort to entice businesses and individuals to pursue cleaner fuel uses.
54). Tax Incentives for Saving for Education
Recent statistics show Americans are simply not saving money for the future. To encourage savings, the government has come up with tax incentives.
Tax Incentives for Saving for Education
Higher education in America is an expensive proposition. If you have a child in college, I hardly need to tell you this. While every parent is proud of a child pursuing education, the glorious event can make for some sleepless night when thinking about how to pay for it.
55). Tax Deductions for Your 2005 Hybrid Automobile
With the recent push by President Bush for alternative fuel strategies, much confusion has arisen regarding tax incentives for hybrid vehicles. This article clarifies the issue for you.
Tax Deductions for Your 2005 Hybrid Automobile
People buy hybrid vehicles for different reason. They are good for the environment. They get much better mileage, which saves money.
56). Employment Taxes – What Are They?
If you have employees, you are responsible for paying a variety of taxes at the federal, state, and local levels. You must also withhold certain taxes from the paychecks of your employees. So, what are employment taxes?
Employment taxes include the following.
1. Federal income tax withholding
2. Social Security and Medicare taxes
3. Federal unemployment tax (FUTA).
57). Your Tip Earnings and Taxes
If you work in a service where you get tips, guess what? The IRS expects you to report them and pay taxes on them.
Your Tip Earnings and Taxes
The internal revenue service takes a very simple approach to tips. It views all tips you make in your job as taxable income that must be reported and for which taxes must be paid. Put another way, the IRS has a simple but brutal view towards taxes
Now tips come in different forms.
58). Taxpayer Advocate – Customer Service at the IRS
Every business has a department that deals with complaints from customers. At the IRS, this department is known as the taxpayer advocate office.
Advocating for You
The purpose of the taxpayer advocate office is to provide taxpayers with a friendly source to handle customer service issues. The office is run independent of the IRS and has offices at every IRS center in the nation.
59). Accounting Methods – Cash and Accrual
When starting a business, you have to determine the method you are going to use for accounting and paying taxes. The two choices are the cash method and the accrual method.
Cash Method
If you are looking for simplicity, the cash method is probably your best accounting choice. Generally, income and deductions can be claimed when payment is actually received or made.
60). Resolve Disputes With Your Partners Before They Happen
A majority of businesses have ownership groups of less than five individuals. While this provides for efficient and effective management, difficulties
61). Marriage and Taxes
Getting married is the greatest day for 50 percent of couples. The other 50 percent get divorced. Perhaps the marriage tax penalty has something to do with it.
Family Values – Hardly
For all the chatter from politicians about family values, it is ironic that the tax code actually penalizes people for getting married. At its heart, the tax code is designed to modify behavior.
62). Understanding Marketing Tax Deductions
Marketing is a necessary expense in running practically any business and the IRS acknowledges as much. You may run advertisements on or in the Internet, radio, television, magazines, newspapers and other media to sell your products or services. You should be deducting all of the associated costs on your tax returns.
Ordinary Marketing Expenses
Marketing costs must be "ordinary and necessary" business expenses in order to be deductible.
63). Small Business Tax Issues for Self-Employed Individuals
The United States is a nation of entrepreneurs. There are literally tens of millions of self-employed individuals that enjoy pursuing their dream business. Of course, few of you enjoy the paperwork and confusing tax issues that arise from owning your own business.
Many self-employed individuals are considered "sole proprietors" or "independent contractors" for legal and tax purposes.
64). Are You Overpaying Taxes If You Use Tax Preparation Software?
For many business owners the answer to this quandary is tax preparation software. Fill out a fairly simple interview, click “print” and out comes a completed return that will pass muster with the IRS. The answer to all your problems…or is it?
Can One Software Program Cover All Businesses?
Take a moment to consider the wide range of businesses that exist in the United States.
65). Tax Changes You Should Know for 2005 Returns
Every year, you have to file tax returns and every year there are changes to the tax code. Here are some key changes for 2005 to keep in mind when you prepare returns.
Tax Changes You Should Know for 2005 Returns
2005 was a fairly quite year when it came to changes to the tax code. Most changes were in the form of tweaks, instead of major overhauls.
66). Automatic Extension Requests For Businesses
The internal revenue service has recently been taking steps to cut down on clutter and streamline the tax filing process. Now they’ve simplified business tax return extensions.
Automatic Extension Requests For Businesses
In past years, some businesses had to go through a lot of paperwork to file request for extensions to file annual business tax returns.
67). Early Distributions From Retirement Plans
An early distribution from an Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) or a qualified retirement plan need not be a “taxing” experience. Fortunately, there are exceptions to early distributions.
Any payment that you receive from your IRA or qualified retirement plan before you reach age 59½ is normally called an “early” or “premature” distribution. As such, these funds are subject to an additional 10 percent tax.
68). Getting Help With Your Taxes
Preparing your taxes can be incredibly stressful. In many cases, it just makes sense to get some help with them.
Save Me From This Misery!
When it comes time to file taxes, you can look to software or a real live person. In this article, we are going to focus on living people, to wit, the tax professional. You might be surprised to learn there are different types of assistance out there.
69). Using This Years Taxes to Save On Next Years Taxes
You just got done paying taxes or filing an extension and are grumpy. If you are smart, you will use this miserable event to save some cash for next year.
Using This Years Taxes to Save On Next Years Taxes
For most people, preparing and filing taxes is the equivalent of sticking a pin in a body part. It simply is not fun. Heck, it is not even amusing.
70). Domain Name Trademarks
As your Internet business grows, the value of your domain name increases. The issue of a domain name trademark should move to the top of your list. Yo
71). Giving Your Car to Charity – The New Tax Rules
The IRS has changed the regulations on donating vehicles to charities. If you donated a car last year, you need to read the following to understand the new rules.
Giving Your Car to Charity – The New Tax Rules
Millions of people donate cars, boats, RVs, motorcycles and many other forms of transportation to charities each year. While doing a good thing is one motivation, reaping a sizeable tax deduction is also a motivating factor.
72). John Roberts – Supreme Court Nominee
President Bush’s selection of the Hon. John Roberts is an interesting choice. The betting, and there had been betting, was on a minority or female can
73). Highlights of IRS List of 2005 Tax Scams
Each year, the IRS lists various scams taxpayers get caught up in. The top 2005 scams include several that manipulate laws governing charitable groups, abuse credit counseling services or rely on refuted arguments to claim tax exemptions. The agency is warning taxpayers about the growth of identity theft schemes with some particularly bold thieves even pretending to be IRS agents.
74). Licensing Your Copyrighted Materials
If you’ve taken the necessary steps to register your copyrighted works, you inevitably will have an opportunity to royalties off of them. To take adva
75). Tax Returns for the Deceased
Two things in life are certain – death and taxes. Here’s what to do if the two are combined as far as filing a tax return.
Tax Returns for the Deceased
If a person dies, their finances are immediately converted into something called an estate. The estate is then responsible for filing a tax return covering the finances including income and distributions to heirs and beneficiaries.
76). Gambling Income and Expenses - Taxes
Hit a big one? With more and more gambling establishments, keep in mind the IRS requires people to report all gambling winnings as income on the
77). Truly Bizarre Taxes: The Tax on Illegal Drugs
One can never underestimate the enthusiasm that politicians have for trying to hunt up tax revenues. The creativity of some politicians can lead to bizarre taxes and unfortunate results.
Taxes on Illegal Drugs
One argument for the legalization of various narcotics is that massive tax revenues would be created. Interestingly, a few states already are trying to collect such taxes!
More than 10 states have tried to tax people that possess illegal drugs.
78). What to Do If You Can’t Pay Your Taxes
The end of tax filing extensions is quickly approaching. What do you do if you can’t pay the amounts you owe? You should still file your return by the due date and pay as much as you can. There are, however, additional steps that might help.
Credit Cards
You can charge your taxes on your American Express, MasterCard, Visa or Discover cards. If you go in this direction, you can use either of the following two sources:
Official Payments Corporation
1-800-2PAY-TAX (1-800-272-9829)
www.
79). Database Hacks - Are Banks Required To Notify You?
Ever wonder if banks are required to tell customers when their systems are hacked? You may be shocked to learn that they are not. The only ex
80). Alternative Minimum Tax – Online Tool
Hell hath no fury like a person who just found out the alternative minimum tax applies to them. The IRS has set up an online tool to figure out if you do.
Alternative Minimum Tax
The alternative minimum tax is a procedure that was set up to keep the richest of Americans from avoiding tax paying responsibilities. As is typical of the federal government, the failed to include any language adjusting for income growth and so on.
81). Failure To Pay Employment Taxes – Penalties
As an employer, you must pay employment taxes if you have employees. Fail to pay and the IRS will rain all over your parade.
Penalties
If you have employees, you absolutely must deduct and withhold various taxes from the paychecks of your employees. Since you are deducting money from the employee’s paycheck, you are handling their funds. This fact is very important to the IRS and it places great emphasis on any failure to deposit employment taxes.
82). California Financial Privacy Law Partially Invalidated
The 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals has dealt a blow to privacy advocates by invalidating a California privacy law. In litigation brought by the
83). IRS Obtains More Than 100 Injunctions Against Tax Scheme Promoters
The IRS has obtained civil injunctions against more than 100 promoters of illegal tax avoidance schemes and fraudulent return preparers in an ongoing crackdown that began in 2001. Many of the injunctions, obtained in cooperation with the Department of Justice, also order the promoters to turn over client lists and to cease preparing federal income tax returns for others.
84). IRS Holding $2 Billion In Unclaimed Tax Refunds
Every year, the IRS announces that it is holding unclaimed tax refunds. Taxpayers have a limited time to claim the $2 billion dollars the IRS is currently holding.
Three years is a magical number when it comes to tax returns. It refers to the statute of limitations on certain tax issues such as when an audit can occur, when refunds can be claimed and when amended tax returns can be filed.
85). Tax Benefits of A “C” Corporation - Funding
If you are going to form a corporation, you might be surprised to learn a “C” corporation comes with a lot of tax benefits. While this article isn’t i
86). Google's Book Scanning and Copyright Laws
As you may know, Google is making an effort to scan every book in the world. The goal is to create a giant online database of every book that can be s
87). Didn’t File Anything with the IRS on April 15th?
The magic tax date of April 15th has passed. If you did not file a tax return or extension request, you need to consider the following.
Didn’t File Anything with the IRS on April 15th?
The Internal Revenue Service is a bit touchy about filing tax returns. It would prefer you to file a return or extension to doing nothing, even if you cannot pay. If worse comes to worse, the IRS will simply put you on a payment plan.
88). Various Toyota Hybrids Get Tax Credit Certification From IRS
Starting in 2006, individuals buying hybrid cars will get a tax credit instead of a tax deduction. The IRS has just started to kick out the exact amounts you can claim for your new hybrid.
Various Toyota Hybrids Get Tax Credit Certification From IRS
Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the tax benefits of owning a hybrid vehicle underwent significant changes.
89). Paying Workers – What Can You Write-Off?
As your business grows, you are going to need help. This help comes in the form of employees and independent contractors. What you can write-off is dependent upon how your helper is classified – as an employee or independent contractor.
Independent Contractor
Whenever possible, you want to use independent contractors to assist you. Payments to independent contractors are completely deductible.
90). California Business Entities – How Long To Get Approved?
You’ve done your research and have decided on a business entity. You’re chomping at the bit to open a bank account and get moving. You file your corpo
91). Refinanced Your Home – Claim a Tax Deduction For Points
The mortgage refinance market has cooled off dramatically with recent rate increases. Many people, however, refinanced during 2005 and can claim tax deductions.
Refinanced Your Home – Claim a Tax Deduction For Points
Mortgage rates have been shockingly low over the last few years. This is hardly news to anyone that owns a home. The nominal rates, however, did result in a major boom for the mortgage industry.
92). Supreme Court Decides Against Grokster In File Sharing Decis
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled peer-to-peer sites such as Grokster, Kazaa and Morpheus can be held responsible for copyright infringement by their u
93). Minority Shareholders – Fighting The Man
Investing in a corporate entity is fairly standard practice in our society. Problems arise when you own a small percentage of shares, but disagree wit
94). The History of Income Tax
They say death and taxes are the only two certain things in life. Alas, this wasn’t always the case. Well, at least for the income tax.
The History of Income Taxes
Our great nation came into existence in fits and starts. Following the revolt against the British, a federal government was elected and the fun began. This “fun” inevitably led to the situation where not everyone could agree on what the United States should stand for, much less what laws should be enacted.
95). Privacy Rights - Big Brother's Bumbling
The General Accounting Office has reported the federal government is ignoring individual privacy rights of citizens. Not only is it ignoring guideline
96). Industry Tax Issue Resolution Program
For roughly the last ten years, the internal revenue service has made a fairly major effort to be more taxpayer friendly. The Industry Tax Issue Resolution Program is one such step.
Industry Issue Resolution Program
After years of living in denial, the IRS has come around to admitting tax forms and procedures may be a mess for certain industries. As one IRS agent put it, the agency doesn’t actually work in the industries, so it doesn’t have a lot of practical knowledge in how things work financially for the businesses on a day-to-day basis.
97). Critical Business Procedure - Keep All Email Communications
Businesses routinely maintain copies of correspondence and memos. Far to often, however, they do not extend this practice to email correspondence. Ema
98). IRS Issues Tax Credit Amount For Toyota Camry Hybrid
Prior to January 1, 2006, people purchasing hybrid vehicles were eligible to claim a significant tax deduction. Now they can claim a monstrously large tax credit.
IRS Issues Tax Credit Amount For Toyota Camry Hybrid
The government attempts to modify the behavior of taxpayers by applying or reducing taxes on certain activities. Alcohol and cigarettes are viewed as health risks, so the government adds excessive taxes to them to try to discourage their use.
99). Not To Late To Make 2005 IRA Contribution
Many Americans make annual contributions to individual retirement accounts. If you haven’t done so for the 2005 tax year, you still can.
Not To Late To Make 2005 IRA Contribution
Contributing to individual retirement accounts just makes sense. Most don’t believe social security is going to survive for long. Even if it does, one has to wonder how small the distributions are going to be.
100). A Lawyers Favorite Lawyer Jokes
Lawyer JokesQ: How does a pregnant woman know she is carrying a future lawyer?A: She has an extreme craving for baloney.Q: Wha
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