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A variety of tax-related limits affecting businesses are annually indexed for inflation, and many have gone up for 2019. Here’s a look at some that may affect you and your business. Deductions Section 179 expensing: Limit: $1.02 million (up from $1 million) Phaseout: $2.55 million (up from $2.5 million) Income-based phase-ins for certain limits on the Sec. 199A qualified business income deduction: Married filing jointly: $321,400-$421,400 (up from $315,000-$415,000) Married...

If you’re like many Americans, letters from your favorite charities have been appearing in your mailbox in recent weeks acknowledging your 2018 year-end donations. But what happens if you haven’t received such a letter — can you still claim an itemized deduction for the gift on your 2018 income tax return? It depends. Basic requirementsTo support a charitable deduction, you need to comply with IRS substantiation requirements. This generally includes...

Choosing the right executor — sometimes known as a “personal representative” — is critical to the smooth administration of an estate. Yet many people treat this decision as an afterthought. Given an executor’s many responsibilities and complex tasks, it pays to put some thought into the selection. Job descriptionAn executor’s duties may include: Collecting, protecting and taking inventory of the estate’s assets, Filing the estate’s tax returns and paying its...

Many, if not most, employers today use some form of an “at-will” employment contract when hiring. The arrangement is theoretically simple: The employer can terminate the employee at any time, for any cause — with or without notice. But is that what at-will employment really means? Not necessarily. Common exceptions For every rule, there are exceptions. Those applicable to at-will employment include: Unlawful discrimination (that is, statutory considerations established under...

When President Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in December 2017, much was made of the dramatic cut in corporate tax rates. But the TCJA also includes a generous deduction for smaller businesses that operate as pass-through entities, with income that is “passed through” to owners and taxed as individual income. The IRS issued proposed regulations for the qualified business income (QBI), or Section 199A,...