Sorry to crash your party, but as we bring in the New Year, it’s also time to bring in a New Tax Season. As a small business owner or self-employed person, one of the easiest ways to keep Uncle Sam off your back and out of your life is to file your forms, payments and other paperwork on time. Over the next four months there are several key dates that you dare not forget! Here they are — all in one place, along with links to the IRS website PDF file for that particular form, where appropriate. NOTE: This article […]

Property taxes are a substantial expense for Texas homeowners, averaging about $3,600 annually. To reduce this expense, property owners should annually review and consider appealing property taxes. While there is no guarantee that an appeal will be successful, a recent survey conducted by O’Connor & Associates indicates that 70% of property tax appeals are successful. Since the mortgage company typically disperses payments, property taxes tend to be a stealth tax. Although the homeowner writes a check, including taxes and insurance monthly, the property tax component is not evident. The property tax component can become quite evident when the homeowner is […]

“Payroll Taxes are Due, with Penalties and Interest”At least that is what the letter from the IRS says. First thing, don’t panic. Quoting Daniel J. Pilla’s study for the Cato Institute “About 40 percent of the revenues the IRS collects through penalty assessments are abated when citizens challenge the penalties.” So we now know the odds are good that the IRS is wrong or will blink first. What do we do? The normal problems with payroll taxes are. Failure to File. Taxes under reported. Taxes under deposited. Taxes deposited late. Any of these can create a situation where the services […]

By ignoring generous IRS guidelines when establishing depreciation schedules, over 90% of real estate investors are unintentionally overpaying federal income taxes. In addition they are paying federal income taxes earlier than necessary, typically years or decades earlier than necessary. Although these IRS guidelines are relatively new, they provide substantial benefits. Since this is a relatively new issue, many accountants have not integrated the new IRS depreciation guidelines into their practice. Savings for real estate investors are meaningful- exceeding $50,000 to $1,000,000 in the first year. Cost segregation converts income taxed at 35% (ordinary income) to income taxed at 15% (capital […]

Although the vast majority of exchanges occurring presently are delayed exchanges, let us briefly explain a few other exchanging alternatives. Simultaneous ExchangeAs mentioned previously, prior to Congress modifying the Internal Revenue Code as to exchanges and formally approving the concept of delayed exchanging, virtually all exchanges were of the simultaneous type. To qualify as a simultaneous exchange, both the relinquished property and the replacement property must close and record on the same day. Some investors still try to accomplish simultaneous exchanges, primarily to avoid or reduce the payment of multiple closing fees or exchange fees to a facilitator. There is […]

Property taxes are one of the largest line item costs incurred by apartment owners. However, many owners do not appeal effectively. Even though owners realize that property taxes can be managed and reduced through an appeal, some view taxes as an arbitrary estimate provided by the government which can’t effectively be appealed. It tends to boil down to the old adage, “You can’t fight city hall”. Fortunately, the property tax appeal process in Texas provides owners multiple opportunities to appeal. Handled either directly by the owner or by a property tax consultant, this process should involve an intense effort to […]

Trying to land a great job which gives a good pay isquite difficult to do these days. Not everyone canactually have the job of their dreams with a goodsalary to boot that’s why more and more people areresorting to having their very own online business tosuffice their needs and wants. If you are one of themany people who is interested in starting your veryown online empire, you should be aware of the basicsof taxes and your online business. More Than Just Social Networking More often than not, people initially become exposedto the wonders of the Internet thanks to socialnetworking sites […]

(Taxes Exist Online?!) So, you want to start your own online business? Beforeyou start designing your own website or webpage, makesure that you know all about the do’s and don’t ofstarting an online business and that includes thetechnical, financial and legal matters of thebusiness. When you decide to start a business, you should beaware and prepared for whatever legal or financialissues that may arise. If you think that you canescape from paying taxes by starting your very ownonline business, think again – your dreamy balloon mayburst once you get into complications regarding taxesand your online business. The Truth About The […]

(Selling On The Internet) Before, garage sales and flea markets were the mostpopular venues for selling pre-owned or used itemsthat you would want to get rid of and at the same timeearn money from. However, thanks to the technologicaldevelopments that have happened through the years, wecan now have easy access to the Internet and have theoptions to sell our stuffs there. If you have been selling your stuffs on the Internetand if you still have future plans to do so, you mightwant to consider taxes and your online business beforeyou continue with it. Selling On eBay Or From Your Own […]

(Paying Taxes Is Just Part Of Business) Any business, whether online or not, really has to payits due taxes. Some people would resort to starting anonline business thinking that they can evade taxpayments if they do so but the truth is, the tax dueswill surely catch up with them one way or another. Righteous as this may sound, but any business thatdoes not pay its taxes cannot be considered as abusiness. So, You Want To Start Your Online Business? Trying to start an online business is pretty much thesame as starting any business in the world. Somepeople who are involved […]