Fiscal Deity: Tax Consultant
September 2, 2008
Strategic planning throughout the year results in a minimal tax balance. The objective of planning your tax payables is not to prevent paying taxes, it is to pay no more than your fair share of taxes, and keep your money where it earns you the most.
If you aren’t aware of it yet, Uncle Sam pays no interest. If he deducts your tax payment monthly or quarterly, and takes more than his fair share, he doesn’t give you anything back for the privilege of using your hard earned money. By the same token, if you don’t pay in enough, he charges you a penalty and interest.
As a W-2 wage earner, if you are over paying your tax debt, you may be considering it a ‘forced savings plan’, but you gain nothing, using that particular plan. By putting the same amount in savings every year, earning interest on the balance, and continuing to regularly invest in your savings fund, you may be able to utilize the retirement savings plan reducing your tax debt significantly. With the advice of a competent tax consultant, your savings can become an investment with a tax reduction at the end of the year.
Tips and Simple Guidelines on How to Calculate Payroll Taxes
August 26, 2008
Managing a business small, medium or big requires you to pay your taxes, as well as your employees taxes. Managing a payroll can be an arduous and taxing job, no pun intended. There are laws that require us to pay taxes and everyone have to comply with that. But keeping up with the payroll can give many people sleepless nights. There are so many deductions needed to be done and they have to be exact to avoid confusion and complications later on. State and federal taxes are very strict and you don’t want the IRS pounding on your door because of some mistakes. Make sure that you do your calculations correctly to avoid a mess later on. Keep your payroll records and tax payments as your reference so you have proof of the deductions and payments you have done. Different states have different laws about records; check it out with your lawyer or accountant to make sure.
So just what are payroll taxes? Payroll taxes are the taxes that every business are required to deduct from the employees salary and pay to the state and the federal government, you are required to do this in behalf of your employees. Aside from withholding state and federal taxes, social security and medicare taxes are deducted also from the salary as required by law. The business on the other hand must match the amount paid for the social security and medicare.
The Tax Man Cometh… To Search
August 20, 2008
You’re at your office, or home, and the doorbell rings ? it’s the Canada Revenue Agency ("CRA").
The first thing to do is find out why they’ve come. If it is an "inspection, audit or examination" of your books and records under §231.1 Income Tax Act ("ITA") then they have a right to be at your place of business, during business hours, to do these things.
Just collect a copy of the business card of the officer and ask them to write what authority under the ITA they are relying on. Other than that cooperate with them, and produce your books and records.
If they are there to serve you with a "Requirement to Produce Information or Documents" under §231.2 then, they’ll have an RPID, in writing, to give to you. Subject to certain technical prerequisites this is something CRA is empowered to do.
Just collect a copy of the business card of the officer, as well as, a copy of the RPID and ask them to write on the back of their business card; whether it is you, or someone else, who is the subject of the RPID.
IRS Lock-In Letters ? What?s An Employer To Do?
August 14, 2008
Employers often ask employees to designate the amount of tax withholdings for paychecks. Occasionally, employees will fail to withhold a sufficient amount in the eyes of the IRS. The IRS will then send a "lock-in" letter on the amount to be withheld. What’s an employer to do?
Withholdings
Four taxes must be withheld from employee paychecks ? Medicare, Social Security, Federal Income and State Income tax. The Medicare tax is set at roughly 1.5 percent of salary while social security is set at 6.2 percent. The withholding for federal and state income tax, however, is subject to adjustments made by employees. The amount of tax required to be withheld by the IRS requires a calculation beyond the scope of this article, but you can look to the "Employer’s Tax Guide" on the IRS web site.
If an employee claims excessive deductions that result in insufficient withholdings, the IRS may respond. The typical response is to send an employer a "lock-in" letter.
The lock-in letter tells the employer to increase the amount of withholding tax of the employee. The IRS will actually specify the maximum number of withholding exemptions the employee can claim. The more exemptions claimed, the less tax withheld in each paycheck. The IRS will also send a copy of the correspondence to the employee.
Back To School ? Educators Deduct School Expenses
August 8, 2008
As teachers and students head back to school following a glorious summer, it’s time to remind teachers to organize 2004 school expenses. Under a temporary tax code change, teachers can deduct certain school-related expenses from adjusted gross income.
Educator Expense Deduction
If you work in the education field, you may be able to deduct up to $250 from your adjusted gross income for 2004 taxes. Unfortunately, the deduction is only applicable to 2004, but there is a reasonable possibility it will be extended to the 2005 tax year and beyond. As a result, you should continue to keep records so you can claim the deduction if it is extended. So, who can claim it and what can be claimed?
"Educators"
Under the tax code provision, "educators" are defined as a fairly broad group of professionals. You are an education if you comply with the following guidelines:
1. You teach kids in kindergarten or through grade 12;
2. You are a teacher
3. You are an instructor
4. You are a counselor
5. You are an aide, or
6. You are a principal
Get Uncle Sam To Pay $36,000 For Your Childs Education!
August 1, 2008
Let’s assume that you would like to begin saving for your children’s education fund. At the end of each year, for the next 8 years, you will contribute $2,000 into a Coverdell Education Savings Account (Education IRA), using your after-tax dollars. The money grows tax-free, and neither the contribution nor the interest is taxed when you make a withdrawal, as long as you use it for education purposes.
By the end of 17 years, your Education IRA will have accumulated to just over $86,000. Contrast this with your fully taxable non-IRA account which would have grown to only $50,000. That is a $36,000 difference!
Today, the average 4-year cost of education at a public college in the country is around $38,000. In 18 years it is projected to be close to $86,000. Costs for private education are even higher.
This example illustrates that, by funding your child’s education using an Education IRA earning 14% with after-tax contributions of $2,000 in each of the first 8 years of your child’s life, you can put an extra $36,000 into your child’s future rather than Uncle Sam’s pocket!
There would be enough in the IRA account to pay for the entire projected 4-year education costs.
Requirements To Produce Tax Information (Whats Up With That?)
July 26, 2008
“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.”
–Strother Martin in Cool Hand Luke
Statutory Law
Governments pass laws, it’s what they do. It is the job of others to interpret the laws that Parliament has made.
Statutory Construction
It is “presume[d] that the legislature avoids superfluous or meaningless words, that it does not pointlessly repeat itself or speak in vain. Every word in a statute is presumed to make sense and to have a specific role to play in advancing the legislative purpose”: Tower v. M.N.R., [2004] 1 F.C. 183 (F.C.A.) per MALONE J.A. per curium at para. 15.
Also Communities Economic Development Fund v. Canadian Pickles Corp., [1991] 3 S.C.R. 388, per IACOBUCCI, J. at page 408 Interpretation of the Canadian Income Tax Act (”ITA”) in practice is primarily done by the Canada Revenue Agency (”CRA”); followed closely by tax accountants and lawyers with the tying vote going to the Courts.
The Legislative Purpose
To raise money and implement federal policies.
The Accounting/Legal Purpose
About Income Taxes; Tidbits
July 19, 2008
1812
The first attempt to impose an income tax on America occurred during the War of 1812. After more than two years of war, the federal government owed an unbelievable $100 million of debt. To pay for this, the government doubled the rates of its major source of revenue, customs duties on imports, which obstructed trade and ended up yielding less revenue than the previous lower rates.
And to think that the Revolution was started because of Tea Taxes in Boston?
Excise taxes were imposed on goods and commodities, and housing, slaves and land were taxed during the war. After the war ended in 1816, these taxes were repealed and instead high customs duties were passed to retire the accumulated war debt.
What is Taxable Income?
The amount of income used to arrive at your income tax. Taxable income is your gross income minus all your adjustments, deductions, and exemptions.
Some specific taxes:
Estate Taxes:
One of the oldest and most common forms of taxation is the taxation of property held by an individual at the time of death.
The US still has Estate Taxes, although there are proposals to do away with them.
State Tax Information
July 14, 2008
All states also have their own tax system. Typically there is a tax on real estate, and there may be additional income taxes, sales taxes, and excise taxes. Oil and mineral producing states often have a severance tax, which is similar to an excise tax in that tax is paid on products produced, rather than on sales. Taxes on hotel rooms are common, and politically popular because the taxpayers usually do not vote in the jurisdiction levying the tax.
These states do not levy an individual income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. New Hampshire and Tennessee only tax interest and dividend income. Delaware, Oregon, Montana and New Hampshire have no state or local sales tax. Alaska has no state sales tax, but allows localities to collect their own sales taxes up to a state-specified maximum. California has all the mentioned taxes, with the result that tax liability often exceeds 51% of income for many California residents.
History Of The Federal Income Tax
July 7, 2008
The powers of Congress, and the limitations set upon those powers, are set forth in Article I of the United States Constitution. Section 8 specifies both the power to collect, “Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,” and the requirement that, “Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.”
One of the major concerns of the Constitutional Convention was to limit the powers of the Federal Government. Among the powers to be limited was the power of taxation. It was thought that head taxes and property taxes (slaves could be taxed as either or both) were likely to be abused, and that they bore no relation to the activities in which the Federal Government had a legitimate interest. The fourth clause of section 9 therefore specifies that, “No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.”
