tax - Linkenheimer LLP CPAs & Advisors

2019 Q1 Tax Calendar: Key Deadlines for Businesses and Other Employers

Here are some of the key tax-related deadlines affecting businesses and other employers during the first quarter of 2019. Keep in mind that this list isn’t all-inclusive, so there may be additional deadlines that apply to you. Contact us to ensure you’re meeting all applicable deadlines and to learn more about the filing requirements.

January 31

File 2018 Forms W-2, “Wage and Tax Statement,” with the Social Security Administration and provide copies to your employees.
Provide copies of 2018 Forms 1099-MISC, “Miscellaneous Income,” to recipients of income from your business where required.
File 2018 Forms 1099-MISC reporting nonemployee compensation payments in Box 7 with the IRS.
File Form 940, “Employer’s Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return,” for 2018. If your undeposited tax is $500 or less, you can either pay it with your return or deposit it. If it’s more than $500, you must deposit it. However, if you deposited the tax for the year in full and on time, you have until February 11 to file the return.
File Form 941, “Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return,” to report Medicare, Social Security and income taxes withheld in the fourth quarter of 2018. If your tax liability is less than $2,500, […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:04:23+00:00December 7th, 2018|business, tax, tax deadlines|0 Comments

Selling Your Business? Defer — and Possibly Reduce — Tax with an Installment Sale

You’ve spent years building your company and now are ready to move on to something else, whether launching a new business, taking advantage of another career opportunity or retiring. Whatever your plans, you want to get the return from your business that you’ve earned from all of the time and money you’ve put into it.

That means not only getting a good price, but also minimizing the tax hit on the proceeds. One option that can help you defer tax and perhaps even reduce it is an installment sale.

Tax benefits

With an installment sale, you don’t receive a lump sum payment when the deal closes. Instead, you receive installment payments over a period of time, spreading the gain over a number of years.

This generally defers tax, because you pay most of the tax liability as you receive the payments. Usually tax deferral is beneficial, but it could be especially beneficial if it would allow […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2018-11-06T16:25:36+00:00November 6th, 2018|business, liability, tax, tax implications, tax planning|0 Comments

Tax-Free Fringe Benefits Help Small Businesses and Their Employees

In today’s tightening job market, to attract and retain the best employees, small businesses need to offer not only competitive pay, but also appealing fringe benefits. Benefits that are tax-free are especially attractive to employees. Let’s take a quick look at some popular options.

Insurance

Businesses can provide their employees with various types of insurance on a tax-free basis. Here are some of the most common:

Health insurance. If you maintain a health care plan for employees, coverage under the plan isn’t taxable to them. Employee contributions are excluded from income if pretax coverage is elected under a cafeteria plan. Otherwise, such amounts are included in their wages, but may be deductible on a limited basis as an itemized deduction.

Disability insurance. Your premium payments aren’t included in employees’ income, nor are your contributions to a trust providing disability benefits. Employees’ premium payments (or […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2018-10-11T18:11:23+00:00October 11th, 2018|employer, expensing, medical deduction, New Tax Laws, tax, tax implications|0 Comments

Some California Taxpayers are Receiving Erroneous Late Notices

Some California taxpayers are receiving erroneous late notices. Taxpayers who reside in federally declared disaster areas have been granted extra time to accomplish state tax-related tasks, such as filing tax returns and paying taxes due. The CA Franchise Tax Board (FTB) has reported that, due to a systemic issue, some taxpayers who qualify for this relief have received notices assessing late-filing penalties. While the FTB works to update its system and address this issue, taxpayers can contact the FTB on its homepage and click live chat: https://bit.ly/2MG3HMz

If you have questions, you can also contact your Linkenheimer CPA.

By Linkenheimer LLP|2018-10-02T19:02:24+00:00October 2nd, 2018|disaster, ftb, irs, tax|0 Comments

How to Reduce the Tax Risk of Using Independent Contractors

Classifying a worker as an independent contractor frees a business from payroll tax liability and allows it to forgo providing overtime pay, unemployment compensation and other employee benefits. It also frees the business from responsibility for withholding income taxes and the worker’s share of payroll taxes.

For these reasons, the federal government views misclassifying a bona fide employee as an independent contractor unfavorably. If the IRS reclassifies a worker as an employee, your business could be hit with back taxes, interest and penalties.

Key factors

When assessing worker classification, the IRS typically looks at the:

Level of behavioral control. This means the extent to which the company instructs a worker on when and where to do the work, what tools or equipment to use, whom to hire, where to purchase supplies and so on. Also, control typically involves providing training and evaluating the worker’s performance. The more control the company […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2018-09-10T18:49:32+00:00September 10th, 2018|business, tax, tax planning|0 Comments