The Internal Revenue Service launched an online resource called Identity Theft Central to help taxpayers report identity theft and teach them how to protect themselves against it.
This new resource provides information to alert taxpayers to the signs of identity theft, actions to take if they become a victim and advice on how to protect personal identity and data.
Located within the IRS website, Identity Theft Central offers specific information for taxpayers, tax professionals and businesses.
One of the most common tax-related misconceptions is that filing a tax extension increases your risk of a tax audit.
This longstanding myth is simply not true, as filing a tax extension can statistically decrease the risk of an audit.
In addition to statistically decreasing the risk of an audit, there is also one other benefit to extending a tax return.
Many individuals may think the time to plan for tax season occurs during the tax season, which occurs after their tax year has ended.
Unfortunately, this is often too late to make any adjustments, which may have benefited the taxpayer.
Similarly, businesses can also fall into this line of thinking and fail to plan for tax season during their tax year.
Due to many changes in the tax law under numerous tax acts that have been implemented over the past decade, including delay in the issuance of tax forms needed to complete individual income tax returns, the compression of the tax preparation and filing season has become even more severe.
The tax code is long and complicated and oftentimes, taxpayers do not know what deductions or credits are available, which means they cannot take advantage of possible savings.
With so many changes under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the 2019 SECURE Act now in place, changes have been made regarding the deductibility of expenses that both business and individual taxpayers may not be aware of.
Recently passed legislation will benefit nonprofit organizations by repealing an unpopular unrelated business income tax (UBIT) on expenses of nonprofits that provide transportation fringe benefits to their employees.
The “Parking Tax,” which was imposed under I.R.C. Section 512(a)(7) upon enactment of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, has now been retroactively repealed under the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act.
A new piece of legislation enacted in late December will help simplify the retirement system and help individuals increase their savings.
The “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement” Act or SECURE Act, which was part of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 expands opportunities for individuals to increase their savings, and makes administrative simplifications to the retirement system.
Among the major changes for individuals are:
Zinner & Co. is pleased to sponsor and support our long-time client, The Cleveland Play House, and their 20th Annual Festival of Trees.
The Festival is located in the Allen Theatre Lobby and features over 30 holiday trees decorated and sponsored by leading artists, designers and community organizations. In addition to the tree displays, the festival will feature live choral performances and free photos with Santa.
The IRS has announced that the contribution limits for Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) contribution limits have been increased to $2750 for the plan year beginning 2020.
The IRS issued its annual inflation adjustments for key tax items for the tax year 2020. Among them are new amounts for standard deductions.
For the tax year 2020, the standard deduction for a married couple filing jointly will be raised from $24,400 to 24,800. For single taxpayers and married couples filing separately, the standard deduction will be raised from $12,200 to 12,400. For heads of households, the standard deduction will be $18, 650.
Margin tax rates will change as follows:
