by NFS | Mar 16, 2011 | Archives
Whether you are self-employed or an employee, if you use a portion of your home for business, you may be able to take a home office deduction. Here are six things the IRS wants you to know about the Home Office deduction
1. Generally, in order to claim a business deduction for your home, you must use part of your home exclusively and regularly:
- as your principal place of business, or
- as a place to meet or deal with patients, clients or customers in the normal course of your business, or
- in any connection with your trade or business where the business portion of your home is a separate structure not attached to your home.
2. For certain storage use, rental use, or daycare-facility use, you are required to use the property regularly but not exclusively.
3. Generally, the amount you can deduct depends on the percentage of your home used for business. Your deduction for certain expenses will be limited if your gross income from your business is less than your total business expenses.
4. There are special rules for qualified daycare providers and for persons storing business inventory or product samples.
5. If you are self-employed, use Form 8829, Expenses for Business Use of Your Home to figure your home office deduction and report those deductions on line 30 of Form 1040 Schedule C, Profit or Loss From Business.
6. If you are an employee, additional rules apply for claiming the home office deduction. For example, the regular and exclusive business use must be for the convenience of your employer.
For more information see IRS Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home. I am here to help – let me know if I can be of any assistance.
by NFS | Mar 14, 2011 | Archives
If you paid someone to care for your child, spouse, or dependent last year, you may be able to claim the Child and Dependent Care Credit on your federal income tax return. Below are 10 things the IRS wants you to know about claiming a credit for child and dependent care expenses.
- The care must have been provided for one or more qualifying persons. A qualifying person is your dependent child age 12 or younger when the care was provided. Additionally, your spouse and certain other individuals who are physically or mentally incapable of self-care may also be qualifying persons. You must identify each qualifying person on your tax return.
- The care must have been provided so you – and your spouse if you are married filing jointly – could work or look for work.
- You – and your spouse if you file jointly – must have earned income from wages, salaries, tips, other taxable employee compensation or net earnings from self-employment. One spouse may be considered as having earned income if they were a full-time student or were physically or mentally unable to care for themselves.
- The payments for care cannot be paid to your spouse, to the parent of your qualifying person, to someone you can claim as your dependent on your return, or to your child who will not be age 19 or older by the end of the year even if he or she is not your dependent. You must identify the care provider(s) on your tax return.
- Your filing status must be single, married filing jointly, head of household or qualifying widow(er) with a dependent child.
- The qualifying person must have lived with you for more than half of 2010. There are exceptions for the birth or death of a qualifying person, or a child of divorced or separated parents. See Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses.
- The credit can be up to 35 percent of your qualifying expenses, depending upon your adjusted gross income.
- For 2010, you may use up to $3,000 of expenses paid in a year for one qualifying individual or $6,000 for two or more qualifying individuals to figure the credit.
- The qualifying expenses must be reduced by the amount of any dependent care benefits provided by your employer that you deduct or exclude from your income.
- If you pay someone to come to your home and care for your dependent or spouse, you may be a household employer and may have to withhold and pay social security and Medicare tax and pay federal unemployment tax. See Publication 926, Household Employer’s Tax Guide.
For more information on the Child and Dependent Care Credit, see Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses or contact my office.
by NFS | Mar 13, 2011 | Archives
Do you rent property to others? If so, you’ll want to read the following seven tips from the IRS about rental income and expenses.
You generally must include in your gross income all amounts you receive as rent. Rental income is any payment you receive for the use of or occupation of property. Expenses of renting property can be deducted from your gross rental income. You generally deduct your rental expenses in the year you pay them. Publication 527, Residential Rental Property, includes information on the expenses you can deduct if you rent property.
1. When to report income. You generally must report rental income on your tax return in the year that you actually receive it.
2. Advance rent. Advance rent is any amount you receive before the period that it covers. Include advance rent in your rental income in the year you receive it, regardless of the period covered.
3. Security deposits. Do not include a security deposit in your income when you receive it if you plan to return it to your tenant at the end of the lease. But if you keep part or all of the security deposit during any year because your tenant does not live up to the terms of the lease, include the amount you keep in your income in that year.
4. Property or services in lieu of rent. If you receive property or services, instead of money, as rent, include the fair market value of the property or services in your rental income. If the services are provided at an agreed upon or specified price, that price is the fair market value unless there is evidence to the contrary.
5. Expenses paid by tenant. If your tenant pays any of your expenses, the payments are rental income. You must include them in your income. You can deduct the expenses if they are deductible rental expenses. See Rental Expenses in Publication 527, for more information.
6. Rental expenses. Generally, the expenses of renting your property, such as maintenance, insurance, taxes, and interest, can be deducted from your rental income.
7. Personal use of vacation home. If you have any personal use of a vacation home or other dwelling unit that you rent out, you must divide your expenses between rental use and personal use. If your expenses for rental use are more than your rental income, you may not be able to deduct all of the rental expenses.
For more information on rental income and expenses see Publication 527 or call my office at 800-560-4NFS.
by NFS | Mar 7, 2011 | Archives
You might be eligible for a valuable tax credit. A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction of taxes owed. Some credits are even refundable, which means you might receive a refund rather than owe any taxes at all. Here are four popular tax credits you should consider before filing your 2010 Federal Income Tax Return:
- The Earned Income Tax Credit is a refundable credit for certain people who work and have earned income from wages, self-employment or farming. Income, age and the number of qualifying children determine the amount of the credit. EITC reduces the amount of tax you owe and may also give you a refund. For more information see IRS Publication 596, Earned Income Credit.
- The Child and Dependent Care Credit is for expenses paid for the care of your qualifying children under age 13, or for a disabled spouse or dependent, to enable you to work or look for work. For more information, see IRS Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses.
- The Child Tax Credit is for people who have a qualifying child. The maximum amount of the credit is $1,000 for each qualifying child. This credit can be claimed in addition to the credit for child and dependent care expenses. For more information on the Child Tax Credit, see IRS Publication 972, Child Tax Credit.
- The Retirement Savings Contributions Credit, also known as the Saver’s Credit, is designed to help low-to-moderate income workers save for retirement. You may qualify if your income is below a certain limit and you contribute to an IRA or workplace retirement plan, such as a 401(k) plan. The Saver’s Credit is available in addition to any other tax savings that apply. For more information, see IRS Publication 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs).
There are other credits available to eligible taxpayers. Since many qualifications and limitations apply to the various tax credits, taxpayers should contact my office for more information or assistance – 800-560-4NFS.
by NFS | Mar 4, 2011 | Archives
House Repeals 1099 Reporting Requirements
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by NFS | Mar 4, 2011 | Archives
Washington, D.C. – The House approved a repeal of the expanded 1099 information reporting requirements by a vote of 314-112 on Thursday.
The bill, H.R. 4, “”The Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act of 2011,” introduced by Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., would repeal the provisions in last year’s Affordable Care Act and Small Business Jobs Act requiring businesses, including rental property owners, to file a Form 1099-MISC with the Internal Revenue Service reporting any purchases of $600 or more from another business during the calendar year.
Every Republican in the House voted to approve the bill, but 76 Democrats were opposed, according to The Hill’s Floor Action Blog. Democrats objected to an offset in the bill that would pay for the cost of the repeal by requiring people who had received tax credits to pay for health insurance under the health care reform bill to repay the subsidies if they end up earning too much during the year to qualify. They argued that the offset amounted to a tax increase.
“This bill would saddle hundreds of thousands of middle-income taxpayers with a hefty tax increase,” said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee. “We all favor repealing 1099, but to do so on the backs of the middle class is irresponsible. With this legislation, Republicans continue their reckless overreach, this time by gouging middle-income taxpayers.”
However, Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., who chairs the Ways and Means Committee, said he did not view the provision as a tax increase. “Voluntarily choosing to not enroll in government health care and thus forgoing the associated tax subsidies that one may not be eligible for might result in more government revenue according to the Joint Tax Committee, but it is not a tax increase,” he said.
He hailed the passage of the bill. “Clearly there is strong, bipartisan support to repeal the 1099 provisions so that small businesses can focus on what they do best – creating jobs,” Camp said in a statement. “With more than 70 percent of the House, including 76 Democrats, voting for repeal of the 1099 provisions, I urge the Senate to move quickly to take up and pass this legislation so we can send a bipartisan bill to the President.”
The Obama administration has said it would prefer that a different way be used to pay for the repeal, however. Last month, the Senate passed its own repeal of the health care reform bill’s expanded 1099 information reporting requirements within a larger reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration that would offset the cost of the repeal with unspecified spending cuts, authorizing the Office of Management and Budget to use unobligated funds. However, that bill does not include provisions repealing the rental property owner 1099 requirements in the Small Business Jobs Act.
The Obama administration opposes the offsets used in both the House and Senate bills, but has not specified how the cost of the repeal should be paid. It said in a statement Tuesday evening that the House bill “would result in tax increases on certain middle-class families that incure unexpected tax liabilities,” while the Senate bill “could cause seious disruption in a wide range of services.”
By Michael Cohn
