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The IRS Releases its “Dirty Dozen” List of Top Tax Scams

The Internal Revenue Service wrapped up issuing its annual “Dirty Dozen” list of tax scams. We want to remind taxpayers to remain vigilant to these often aggressive and evolving schemes throughout the year.

This year’s “Dirty Dozen” list highlights a wide variety of schemes that taxpayers may encounter at any time, although many may peak during tax-filing season. The schemes run the gamut from simple refund inflation scams, fake IRS collection calls to complex tax shelter deals. A common theme throughout all: These scams put all taxpayers at risk.

Here’s the Recap of This Year’s “Dirty Dozen” Scams:

Phishing: Taxpayers should be alert to potential fake emails or websites looking to steal personal information. The IRS will never initiate contact with taxpayers via email about a bill or tax refund. Don’t click on one claiming to be from the IRS. Be wary of emails and websites that may be nothing more than scams to steal personal information. (IR-2019-26)

Phone Scams: Phone calls from criminals impersonating IRS agents remain an ongoing threat to taxpayers. […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:04:11+00:00March 20th, 2019|tax, taxpayer|0 Comments

Are you a California Employer Who Must File State Copies of W2s and 1099s?

Are you a California employer who must file state copies of W2s and 1099s? Returns that are paper-filed with the IRS will be forwarded to the CA Franchise Tax Board (FTB), so there’s no need for you to also file with the FTB. Generally, the IRS and FTB have the same filing requirements. If you have 250 or more returns, electronic filing with the FTB is required. The e-filing due date is 3/31/19. If you use the IRS Combined Federal/State Filing Program, only one filing is necessary. The IRS will forward original or corrected data to the FTB. If you have questions about filing, please contact your Linkenheimer CPA.

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:04:11+00:00March 20th, 2019|1099, business, CA tax, california, employer, ftb, w2|0 Comments

Stretch Your College Student’s Spending Money with the Dependent Tax Credit

If you’re the parent of a child who is age 17 to 23, and you pay all (or most) of his or her expenses, you may be surprised to learn you’re not eligible for the child tax credit. But there’s a dependent tax credit that may be available to you. It’s not as valuable as the child tax credit, but when you’re saving for college or paying tuition, every dollar counts!

Background of the credits

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) increased the child credit to $2,000 per qualifying child under the age of 17. The law also substantially increased the phaseout income thresholds for the credit so more people qualify for it. Unfortunately, the TCJA eliminated dependency exemptions for older children for 2018 through 2025. But the TCJA established a new $500 tax credit for dependents who aren’t under-age-17 children who qualify for the child tax credit. However, these individuals must pass certain tests to be classified as dependents.

A qualifying dependent for purposes of the $500 credit includes:

A dependent child who lives with you for over half the year and is over age 16 and up to age 23 if he […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:04:11+00:00March 19th, 2019|child, education credit, New Tax Laws, tax credit|0 Comments

When are LLC Members Subject to Self-Employment Tax?

Limited liability company (LLC) members commonly claim that their distributive shares of LLC income — after deducting compensation for services in the form of guaranteed payments — aren’t subject to self-employment (SE) tax. But the IRS has been cracking down on LLC members it claims have underreported SE income, with some success in court.

SE tax background

Self-employment income is subject to a 12.4% Social Security tax (up to the wage base) and a 2.9% Medicare tax. Generally, if you’re a member of a partnership — including an LLC taxed as a partnership — that conducts a trade or business, you’re considered self-employed.

General partners pay SE tax on all their business income from the partnership, whether it’s distributed or not. Limited partners, however, are subject to SE tax only on any guaranteed payments for services they provide to the partnership. The rationale is that limited partners, who have no management authority, are more akin to passive investors.

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:04:17+00:00February 12th, 2019|business, irs, liability|0 Comments

Why You Shouldn’t Wait to File Your 2018 Income Tax Return

The IRS opened the 2018 income tax return filing season on January 28. Even if you typically don’t file until much closer to the April 15 deadline, this year consider filing as soon as you can. Why? You can potentially protect yourself from tax identity theft — and reap other benefits, too.

What is tax identity theft?

In a tax identity theft scheme, a thief uses your personal information to file a fraudulent tax return early in the filing season and claim a bogus refund.

You discover the fraud when you file your return and are informed by the IRS that the return has been rejected because one with your Social Security number has already been filed for the same tax year. While you should ultimately be able to prove that your return is the legitimate one, tax identity theft can cause major headaches to straighten out and significantly delay your refund.

Filing early may be […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:04:18+00:00February 6th, 2019|fraud, New Tax Laws, taxes, w2|0 Comments