Returning Value Blog

Two valuable depreciation-related tax breaks can potentially reduce your 2017 taxes if you acquire and place in service qualifying assets by the end of the tax year. Tax reform could enhance these breaks, so you’ll want to keep an eye on legislative developments as you plan your asset purchases.

Does your small business engage in qualified research activities? If so, you may be eligible for a research tax credit that you can use to offset your federal payroll tax bill.

If you own a profitable, unincorporated business with your spouse, you probably find the high self-employment (SE) tax bills burdensome. An unincorporated business in which both spouses are active is typically treated by the IRS as a partnership owned 50/50 by the spouses. (For simplicity, when we refer to “partnerships,” we’ll include in our definition limited liability companies that are treated as partnerships for federal tax purposes.)

It’s a safe bet that state tax authorities will let you know if you haven’t paid enough sales and use taxes, but what are the odds that you’ll be notified if you’ve paid too much? The chances are slim — so slim that many businesses use reverse audits to find overpayments so they can seek refunds.

Take Advantage of Tax Deductions for Company Events

How to maximize the tax benefits

The summer rental season is about to kick off. If you own a vacation home in a resort area that you rent out while your family is not using it, you may be in line for valuable tax deductions. In fact, you might even qualify for a tax loss on the deal, but you must be careful to observe the complex tax rules.

There’s little doubt that the economy as a whole closed out 2016 on a particularly high note as the Dow Jones Industrial Average nearly reached the unprecedented 20,000 mark. But despite that broad performance, did the manufacturing sector in particular fare similarly well during this past year?

Many manufacturers aren’t aware that activities they perform in the daily course of their work fall under the classification of research and development activities and could, therefore, be eligible for valuable federal and state tax credits. In 1981, the federal government implemented the Research and Experimentation tax credits to create jobs and spur technological innovation. Familiarly known as research and development (R&D) tax credits, the program was intended as a temporary measure that lawmakers hoped would give the economy a boost.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Last In, First Out (LIFO) method, but were uncertain what it means, what it’s used for, and why it may be important.

Divide interest into these categories

Are interest expenses deductible? The answer is a complicated “yes and no.” Essentially, it depends on the type of interest expense incurred. Although there are technically other types, interest expenses can be lumped into four main baskets for tax purposes.