Tax-related Identity Theft

Posted by JCB on Feb 15, 2020 in Advice Tax-related identity theft occurs when someone uses your stolen Social Security number to file a tax return. You may not even know you’re at risk until it’s too late. How to avoid it and what to do if it happens to you? Protecting yourself from tax id theft...
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Cincinnati, Hartford Payment P.O. Boxes Closing in 2020

Posted by JCB on Jan 27, 2020 in Advice The IRS is closing several business payment P.O. Boxes (or Lockbox addresses) in the Cincinnati and Hartford areas beginning July 1. Payments mailed to these closed payment locations will be returned to the sender. No forwarding service will be available. To help ensure timely receipt, check Where to File on irs.gov before mailing your client’s payment. If you receive an IRS payment letter,...
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Connecticut Business Entity Tax Sunset

Posted by JCB on Jan 20, 2020 in Advice Public Act 19-117, signed by Gov. Lamont on June 26, 2019, sunsets the $250 biennial Connecticut Business Entity Tax (BET). Does a business entity need to do anything to close its BET registration with DRS? No. DRS will automatically close the business entity’s BET registration after the final return is filed. The final BET return includes the 2017 and 2018 taxable years. If a business...
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Travel Expenses Allowed Without Log Book

Posted by JCB on Jan 15, 2020 in Advice Travel Expenses Allowed Without Log BookDownload – Maki, T.C. Summary Opinion 2019-34 In general, travel expenses have strict substantiation requirements. A taxpayer must maintain records that include:– The amount of the expense,– The time and place of travel,– The business purpose of the expense, and– The business relationship between the taxpayer and persons...
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Filing Season for Individuals Opens Jan 27, 2020

Posted by JCB on Jan 13, 2020 in Advice IR-2020-02, January 6, 2020 WASHINGTON ― The Internal Revenue Service confirmed that the nation’s tax season will start for individual tax return filers on Monday, January 27, 2020, when the tax agency will begin accepting and processing 2019 tax year returns. The deadline to file 2019 tax returns and pay any tax owed is Wednesday, April 15, 2020. More than 150 million individual tax...
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2020 Standard Mileage Rate

Posted by JCB on Jan 8, 2020 in Advice The IRS has released the 2020 standard mileage rates for taxpayers to use in computing the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical, or moving expense purposes. The following chart reflects the new 2020 standard mileage rates compared to the 2018 and 2019 tax year standard mileage rates. 2020 Standard Mileage...
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Inflation Adjusted Amounts for 2020

Posted by JCB on Jan 4, 2020 in Advice Each year, a number of provisions in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) are adjusted for inflation. The IRS recently released the inflation adjusted amounts for 2020. The following chart highlights a number of these adjustments, as they compare to the 2019 and 2018 amounts. Inflation Adjusted Amounts for...
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2020 Social Security COLA Increase

Posted by JCB on Oct 21, 2019 in Advice The Social Security Administration has announced that Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will increase by 1.6% for 2020. See the attached for key figures that are affected by the annual Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) for the years 2018 through 2020. 2018-2020 Social Security COLA Increase...
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IRS Tool to Check your Withholding

Posted by JCB on Oct 16, 2019 in Advice The IRS encourages everyone to use the Tax Withholding Estimator to perform a quick “paycheck checkup.”  This is even more important following the recent changes to the tax law for 2018 and beyond.  IRS Tax Withholding Estimator.  The Tax Withholding Estimator helps you identify your tax withholding to make sure you have the right amount of tax withheld from your paycheck at work. There are...
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Preventative Care for HSAs

Posted by JCB on Sep 15, 2019 in Advice The IRS has added care for a range of chronic conditions to the list of preventive care benefits that may be provided by a high deductible health plan (HDHP). Notice 2019-45 lists the new types of medical care that may be treated as preventive care for this purpose. Individuals covered by an HDHP generally may establish and deduct contributions to a health savings account (HSA) as long as they...
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