Tax services services in Houston, Texas? Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit: A tax credit is so much better than a tax deduction—it reduces your tax bill dollar for dollar. So missing one is even more painful than missing a deduction that simply reduces the amount of income that’s subject to tax. But it’s easy to overlook the child and dependent care credit if you pay your child care bills through a reimbursement account at work. The law allows you to run up to $5,000 of such expenses through a tax-favored reimbursement account at work. Up to $6,000 in care expenses can qualify for the credit, but the $5,000 from a tax favored account can’t be used. So if you run the maximum $5,000 through a plan at work but spend more for work-related child care, you can claim the credit on up to an extra $1,000. That would cut your tax bill by at least $200 using the minimum 20 percent of the expenses. The credit percentage goes up for lower income households.
Meet With Your Tax Advisor: November is a good month to meet with a tax advisor, Powell says. They have finished their October tax filings and may have time in their schedule before the busy tax season starts after the first of the year. “If you sit down and do some math between now and the end of the year, you can make sure you are in a favorable tax bracket,” Barlin says. An advisor can help pinpoint strategies to reduce taxable income through retirement contributions or itemized deductions. That, in turn, may be key to ensuring households remain eligible for some income-based tax incentives such as student loan interest deductions. If you don’t regularly use a tax professional, Barlin says running numbers through tax software can be just as beneficial.
The maximum amount of wages garnished varies depending on the garnishment, but they range from 15 percent of disposable earnings for student loans to as much as 65 percent of disposable earnings for child support (if the employee is at least 12 weeks in arrears). In states that have enacted laws differing from federal wage garnishment requirements, employers must comply with state laws demanding a lesser garnishment. And because state laws differ (North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas generally prohibit wage garnishment for consumer debts altogether), employers should ascertain what’s required of them by state law before proceeding with garnishment. No matter how high the debt, employees will always be allowed to keep a certain percentage of their paycheck for general living expenses. Read more info at Bookkeeping Company In Houston.
Collect Pertinent Income and Expense Information: Around the end of January each year, employers, vendors, financial institutions, and others prepare and forward various tax forms and information pertinent to your filing. Create a set of files – whether that’s a large multi-pocketed accordion file, a group of large manila envelopes, or a digital filing system on your hard drive – to sort and separate the data into one of the following categories: Personal Information. This information should include your legal name, as well as the legal names of your spouse and all dependents. You also need their Social Security numbers and dates of birth. I also keep my primary bank information – account number and bank routing number – so I can request a direct deposit refund if circumstances warrant. Income. Common forms include W-2s from employers; 1099 forms for other types of income, such as self-employment, investments, and retirement distributions; and K-1s for any partnerships in which you participate. Keep a separate folder for security transactions so you can quickly determine holding periods from buy and sell dates to ensure you qualify for capital gains treatment wherever possible.
Familiarize yourself with new tax rules: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that took effect in December 2017 made big changes to the U.S. tax code. The tax reform means two things for you. Some of the tax breaks you might have taken advantage of in the past are gone. There may be some new tax breaks you can use when preparing your taxes. Check out our tax reform review to see the biggest changes and start thinking about things you can do to take advantage of them.
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