Author - SFS Tax & Accounting

Are you an Employee or Independent Contractor?

Here's Why You Need to Know Oftentimes, businesses are hiring employees and handing them 1099 Forms to save themselves money. They don't have to pay their share of the taxpayer's social security, nor do they have to pay their Medicare (7.65% of the gross pay) or federal unemployment tax ($42 per person). They also get to skip out on the state "re-employment" tax (as much as $189 per person). The independent contractor then has to get their own liability insurance and...

March 6, 2019Read more...

Homeowner Alert! Review Your Tax Forms

Homeowner Alert! Review Your Tax Forms

New Tax Rules are Creating Confusion

Tax laws are constantly changing. Many home-related tax rules have changed and now require you to prove how funds are used to qualify for a deduction. This is catching many taxpayers by surprise. So when your mortgage company reports tax-related information to you and the IRS using Form 1098, it no longer means all the interest and points reported on these statements are tax-deductible.

Mortgage interest...

February 27, 2019Read more...

How to Organize Your Business Documents

How to Organize Your Business Documents

For even the smallest of businesses, getting organized involves a lot more than just tidying up papers and the clutter you have on your desk. You have to have structure for all the different parts of your business. Taking care of your business documents will help you become more productive and profitable. The ideas below are some of the best ways you can become more organized in your small business. Use this to help you...

February 7, 2019Read more...

Reasons Why You Should Hire an EA

Reasons Why You Should Hire an EA

Every year, millions of taxpayers decide to perform complex tax preparation by themselves and, while it is possible, it is a perilous task. For taxpayers with the simplest income tax returns, do-it-yourself online tax systems will likely suffice. These people often have only one source of income coming from a traditional employer, may have a home mortgage with interest (and even this can become complicated under the new law), student loan debt and...

February 6, 2019Read more...

Do I Qualify as Head of Household?

Do I Qualify as Head of Household?

We know that selecting the correct status can get confusing. The Internal Revenue Code offers five different filing status options, and you’re required to pick one of them. It’s pretty well-known that the “head of household” status carries a lot of advantages: Taxpayers who qualify get a higher standard deduction Qualified taxpayers have wider tax brackets than the single-filing status. However, there are specific rules to qualify for this option.

What IS Head of...

January 17, 2019Read more...

Are Your Cannabusiness Profits Going up in Smoke?

Are Your Cannabusiness Profits Going up in Smoke?

With tax season starting, questions from both legal and illegal cannabis companies begin to arise. Truthfully, the current tax laws for cannabis companies are tough to comprehend. Federal and state tax laws vary significantly. Also, federal tax rules for canna-businesses are different than those of other for-profit businesses. Most importantly, federal tax laws make it very difficult for cannabis companies to generate a profit due to the heavy tax burden that is...

January 9, 2019Read more...

6 Ways to Get Your Tax Refund Faster

6 Ways to Get Your Tax Refund Faster

As the tax filing season approaches, there are steps you can take now to speed up the filing process. The faster your return is filed, the faster you get your refund. Even if you end up owing money to the IRS, knowing the amount due sooner gives you more time to come up with the funds needed to pay your tax bill. Meanwhile, here are things you can do now to...

January 3, 2019Read more...

Small Businesses: Tax Act Changes

We’ve spent the last 10 months combing through the 100+ page Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017. There are many changes that affect small businesses. To help you stay informed, we pulled out the top four changes you should know about the new law that could affect your 2018 returns.

1. Some pass-through businesses can expect a larger deduction

With pass-through businesses, such as S corporations, partnerships, or LLCs, the income earned isn’t taxed at a corporate level. Instead,...

January 2, 2019Read more...

4 Tips on Safely Donating Online

4 Tips on Safely Donating Online

We live in very unsettling times — at least from the standpoint of cybersecurity. According to a recent report, 3,676 breaches were reported in the first nine months of 2018. This resulted in the exposure of 3.6 billion records. And although this marks an 8 percent decline in "data compromise events" from 2017, criminals are getting shrewder, and new threats are emerging before old ones have been fully addressed. It's important to stay vigilant...

December 20, 2018Read more...

Employers: New Tax Credit Benefits for Those Who Provide Paid Family and Medical Leave

The tax reform legislation enacted in December 2017 offers a new tax credit for employers who provide paid family and medical leave. Want to know how it works? We’ll go into that - and which employers are eligible to claim it.\

Where is it applicable? 

The credit is available for wages paid in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, and before January 1, 2020. Some employers can claim the credit for the beginning of their first taxable year beginning after December 31,...

December 7, 2018Read more...