tax - Linkenheimer LLP CPAs & Advisors

New Law Tax Break May Make Child Care Less Expensive

The new American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) provides eligible families with an enhanced child and dependent care credit for 2021. This is the credit available for expenses a taxpayer pays for the care of qualifying children under the age of 13 so that the taxpayer can be gainfully employed.

Note that a credit reduces your tax bill dollar for dollar.

Who qualifies?

For care to qualify for the credit, the expenses must be “employment-related.” In other words, they must enable you and your spouse to work. In addition, they must be for the care of your child, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister or step-sibling (or a descendant of any of these), who’s under 13, lives in your home for over half the year, and doesn’t provide over half of his or her own support for the year. The expenses can also be for the care of your spouse or dependent who’s handicapped and lives with you for over half the year.

By Linkenheimer LLP|2021-03-23T17:25:56+00:00March 23rd, 2021|child, credit, expensing|0 Comments

Estimated Tax Payments: The Deadline for the First 2021 Installment is Coming Up

April 15 is not only the deadline for filing your 2020 tax return, it’s also the deadline for the first quarterly estimated tax payment for 2021, if you’re required to make one.

You may have to make estimated tax payments if you receive interest, dividends, alimony, self-employment income, capital gains, prize money or other income. If you don’t pay enough tax during the year through withholding and estimated payments, you may be liable for a tax penalty on top of the tax that’s ultimately due.

Four due dates

Individuals must pay 25% of their “required annual payment” by April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year, to avoid an underpayment penalty. If one of those dates falls on a weekend or holiday, the payment is due on the next business day.

The required annual payment for most individuals is the lower of 90% of the tax shown on the current year’s return or 100% of the tax shown on the return for the previous year. However, if the adjusted gross income on your previous year’s return was more than $150,000 (more than $75,000 if you’re married filing separately), you must pay […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2021-03-10T19:34:32+00:00March 10th, 2021|tax deadlines|0 Comments

Should Your Business Add Roth Contributions to its 401(k)?

If your business sponsors a 401(k) plan, you might someday consider adding designated Roth contributions. Here are some factors to explore when deciding whether such a feature would make sense for your company and its employees.

Key differences

Roth contributions differ from other elective deferrals in two key tax respects. First, they’re irrevocably designated to be made on an after-tax basis, rather than pretax. Second, if all applicable requirements are met and the distribution constitutes a “qualified distribution,” the earnings won’t be subject to federal income tax when distributed.

To be qualified, a distribution generally must occur after a five-year waiting period, as well as after the participant reaches age 59½, becomes disabled or dies. Because of the different tax treatment, plans must maintain separate accounts for designated Roth contributions.

Pluses and minuses

The Roth option gives participants an opportunity to hedge against the possibility that their income tax rates will be higher in retirement. However, if tax rates fall or participants are in lower tax brackets during retirement, Roth contributions may provide less after-tax retirement income than comparable pretax contributions. The result could also be worse than that of ordinary elective deferrals if Roth amounts aren’t […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2021-02-24T18:46:47+00:00February 24th, 2021|401k, roth ira|0 Comments

Partial Conformity to PPP Loan Tax Rules for California

Yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom, Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon announced that they have reached an agreement on a package of immediate actions that will speed needed relief to individuals, families and businesses suffering the most significant economic hardship from the COVID-19 Recession.

The package includes an agreement to partially conform California’s tax law to the new federal tax treatment for loans provided through the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP). More than 750,000 PPP loans were taken out by California small businesses. The agreement allows companies to deduct up to $150,000 in expenses covered by the PPP loan. All businesses that took out loans of $150,000 or less would be able to maximize their deduction for state purposes. Larger firms that took out higher loans would still be subject to the same ceiling of $150,000 in deductibility.

This tax treatment would also extend to the Economic Injury Disaster Loans.

While the legislative language has yet to be published, this package is expected to be part of an early budget action that is quickly passed and signed by the governor. Similar proposals have emerged in the Legislature, namely AB 281 (Burke), […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2021-02-18T22:32:01+00:00February 18th, 2021|ca, CA tax, california, New Tax Laws, ppp|0 Comments

California Tax Updates for February 17th

Update 1:

California’s Franchise Tax Board (FTB) has reopened. In a public service bulletin the FTB announced that beginning Feb. 1, 2021, its field offices and their public counter operations reopened to assist customers by appointment only. Requests for appointments can be made by contacting the field office directly by phone (here’s the link with phone numbers: https://bit.ly/3oXd0WN) or by sending an email to: FTBFieldOfficeAppointments@ftb.ca.gov

Update 2:

Interest rates on unpaid or underpaid taxes in California will remain unchanged for the second half of 2021. The CA Dept. of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) has announced that the interest rate on taxes that are unpaid or underpaid remains at 6%. The interest rate on overpayments and refunds will remain at 0%, for taxes and fees administered by the CDTFA. These taxes include: sales and use tax, cigarette and tobacco products tax, hazardous substances tax, alcoholic beverage tax, […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2021-02-17T17:23:33+00:00February 17th, 2021|ca, california, ftb, New Tax Laws|0 Comments