Our Financial Blog
Creditor Garnishment Maximum to be Based on State Minimum Wage in Virginia
Effective July 1, 2021, the maximum amount of disposable earnings subject to garnishment will be based on the state minimum wage, which will be $9.50 per hour in Virginia because of the scheduled increase that begins May 1, 2021. The maximum amount subject to...
Virginia Individual Income Tax Filing & Payment Deadline Extended
Virginia's Governor has directed the Department of Taxation to extend the individual income tax filing and payment deadline in Virginia to Monday, May 17, 2021. This extension aligns with the recent extension by the IRS to the same date.
Tax Day for Individuals extended to May 17
The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service announced today that the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year will automatically be extended from April 15, 2021 to May 17, 2021. Individual taxpayers can also postpone...
Obscure and Overlooked Tax Deductions, Credits, and Benefits
As tax time approaches, here are some tax issues that taxpayers frequently overlook, ranging from obscure deductions to overlooked tax credits and benefits. Of course, not everything can be included since the tax law has grown significantly in complexity, and it would...
Unemployment Fraudsters May Create a Tax Nightmare for Unsuspecting Taxpayers
As if this past year with all of its pandemic perils has not been stressful enough, the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Labor has just added to our anxieties by announcing that at least at least $36 billion and possibly as much as $63 billion has...
Understanding Tax-Filing Status
Filing status is determined on the last day of the year and most often is based on marital status. The two most prevalent are as follows: Single – Unmarried individuals without dependents.Married Taxpayers Filing Jointly (MFJ) – The couple combines their incomes,...
March 2021 Individual & Business Due Dates
March 10 - Report Tips to EmployerIf you are an employee who works for tips and received more than $20 in tips during February, you are required to report them to your employer on IRS Form 4070 no later than March 10.Your employer is required to withhold FICA taxes...
The Number of Americans Who Didn’t Pay their Mortgage Hit 5% in December 2020
Obviously, the still-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been a major challenge for all of us since it kicked into high gear in March of 2020. In the months since, millions of people have found themselves out of a job and the ones that remained were suddenly faced with...
Employee Retention Credit Extended
In order to help trades and businesses to retain employees and keep them employed during the COVID-19 crisis, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act created the Employee Retention Credit for 2020. As part of the Consolidated Appropriations...
Interaction between PPP Loans and the Employee Retention Credit
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CCA), which was passed by Congress and signed by the president late last December, included a very tax-beneficial provision that liberalized the interaction between PPP loans and the Employee Retention Credit (ERC). Prior to...
Charitable Contributions Deductions Liberalized for 2021
As a means to stimulate charitable contributions during the COVID crisis, Congress made two notable changes for 2020—one allowing taxpayers that don’t itemize their deductions an above-the-line deduction for cash contributions of up to $300 and another for those...
February 2021 Individual and Business Due Dates
February 1 - File 2020 Individual Return to Avoid Penalty for Not Making 4th Quarter Estimated Payment:If you file your prior year’s individual income tax return and pay any tax due by this date, you need not make the 4th Quarter Estimated Tax Payment that was...
How President Biden’s Rescue Plan Might Impact Your Taxes
President Biden released his “American Rescue Plan” on January 14. It is a wish list of proposals he wants Congress to enact to address the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic crisis. While some of the proposals are intended to be in effect for just one year, it...
Beware: These Tax Return Red Flags Could Catch the Eye of the IRS
Tax time can be one of the most hated times of the year. Just preparing the forms is enough to be an irritant, and if you owe the government money there’s a good chance that you’re downright annoyed. But neither of those things compare to the feeling that accompanies...
4 Questions Business Owners Should Consider During the 2020 Tax Season
As if 2020 wasn’t challenging enough, tax-filing this 2020 tax season is going to be even more complicated than usual. Though the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program were put into place to help small businesses, the old adage about “no such thing as a free...
Sold or Thinking of Selling Your Home?
In spite of (or in some cases, because of) the COVID-19 pandemic, and with near-record-low home mortgage interest rates, the housing market has been booming. September 2020 existing home sales were up 9.4% from August 2020 and 20.9% from 2019, according to the...
Increased Business Meal Deductions for 2021 and 2022
If you recall, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), effective beginning in 2018, eliminated business meal deductions for entertainment, amusement or recreation expenses. However, it did retain a deduction for business meals when the expense is ordinary and necessary for...
W-2 or 1099-NEC: Which Form Should Your Small Business Use for Which Worker?
Filing annual wage reports is just one of the many end-of-year responsibilities expected of every business. But the task is not as straightforward as some would think. The reports get sent to the people who have received wages, and at the same time they get filed with...
Your Annual Reminder to File Worker 1099s
This is our annual reminder that if you use workers other than employees to perform services for your business and pay them $600 or more for the year, you are required to issue each one a Form 1099-NEC after the end of the year to avoid facing the loss of the...
Didn’t Get Your Economic Impact Payment? You Can Claim It on Your 2020 Return.
One of the more tax-troubling issues this year has been the distribution of what Congress referred to as the recovery rebates. You may know these payments as the Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) or stimulus payments, names that the IRS took the liberty of creating....