Year-round tax planning can save both time and money by helping you take advantage of opportunities throughout the year to position yourself and your business to pay the lowest possible tax. Before you can begin your tax planning though, you have to get organized. If you are not using QuickBooks or other accounting software, now is the time to move …
The omnibus spending bill, ‘The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015’ was signed into law last Friday and extends a number of important tax breaks. It also makes a number of them permanent. Among the deductions, credits and tax provisions included in the bill: The Research & Development credit Increased expensing limitations and treatment of certain real property …
In July 2015, the Senate Finance Committee voted to extend bonus depreciation and the enhanced section 179 deduction through 2016. Bonus depreciation may result in substantial tax savings for businesses that already had plans to purchase or construct qualified property. Unlike section 179 expensing, you do not need net income to take bonus depreciation deductions. Further, bonus depreciation is not …
If you were born before before July 1, 1945, you generally must receive payments from your individual retirement arrangements (IRAs) and workplace retirement plans by Dec. 31. Known as required minimum distributions (RMDs), these payments normally must be made by the end of 2015. But a special rule allows first-year recipients of these payments, those who reached age 70 during …
Levied in 44 states, corporate income taxes account for a relatively small share of state revenue  5.2 percent of state tax collections and just over 2 percent of all state revenue, including federal transfers. Top rates range from a low of 4.53 percent in North Dakota to a high of 12 percent in Iowa. Louisiana’s rates fall in the …
Conversations about “loopholes†in the tax code are often unproductive. “Loophole†is a loaded word, one that sneaks in hidden assumptions without justifying them. But loaded words are often effective; especially, apparently, the word “loophole.†As a result, the word has been used far too often and applied in all sorts of inappropriate situations. The end result has been a …
Businesses in Louisiana pay widely different effective tax rates depending on which industry they’re in and how long they’ve been operating in the state, according to a new report from the Tax Foundation in collaboration with KPMG. “Louisiana’s tax structure is characterized by high rates and partially offsetting incentives, particularly for new, but in some cases also for mature, firms,†…
Person CPA Group in Metairie is pleased to announce Brett Summerville has accepted the position of Tax Manager. Brett has 7 years of experience in public accounting and has been a CPA for over 4 years. Before joining Person CPA Group, he had 3½ years of public accounting experience in a mid-sized local CPA firm and 3½ years at large …
Since January 2015, several bills have been passed by the House, including ones to make permanent a few of the 50-plus provisions that expired at the end of 2014. Described below is a sampling. Permanent, higher Sec. 179 expensing: America’s Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2015, H.R. 636, passed on Feb. 13. This bill makes permanent the $500,000 expensing …
You may have seen this John Oliver video floating around on social networks. His point was to show how easy it is to abuse nonprofit rules. When you take this into consideration, along with the current IRS trouble related to their targeting of selected groups, it makes me think it may be time to reevaluate the entire process. I wonder …
