Tax Tips for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs in Portland
Understanding Tax Deductions for Small Businesses in PortlandCommon Business Expenses You Can DeductSo, let’s talk about tax deductions for small businesses in Portland. It’s super important to know what you can deduct to save some cash. Common expenses like rent for your office, employee wages, and even snacks for the break room can...
Restricted Stock & RSUs: 3 Planning Tips
Equity compensation is becoming more mainstream and is not just for executives anymore. Grants of restricted stock or restricted stock units (RSUs) are getting to be more common than stock options – and the rules are different, as is the tax planning. Below we will look at some of the particulars of how restricted stock and RSUs operate, how to understand a grant, planning for the tax...
The Biggest Winners and Losers in President Biden’s Proposed Individual Tax Plan
President Biden presented his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, which focuses on expanding benefits for education, children and childcare. The Biden administration intends to pay for the plan with a series of tax hikes on certain individual taxpayers. Depending on your income and source of wealth, there are some clear winners and losers of this proposal, so let’s look at each and...
Everything There is to Know About the New Child Tax Credit
The Child Tax Credit as we know it originated during the Clinton administration, but the recently enacted American Rescue Plan created a new version. The updated version of this tax credit could have a beneficial impact on Americans struggling through the COVID-19 pandemic. There are changes to many aspects of the credit, so let’s look at each one below.
Monthly Payments Versus...
Four Essential Questions You Should Ask Your Tax Professional This Season Related to COVID-19
Good tax professionals ask the right questions to ensure they understand your situation and can help you to the best extent the law allows. Given the host of pandemic-related tax changes for 2020, it’s good to keep these four questions below in mind. If your tax preparer doesn’t ask these questions in your tax organizer or during a meeting, raise them yourself.
1. Did you receive...
New Year-End Tax Provisions
In late December, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which in addition to providing COVID-19 relief provisions also included many tax provisions and extenders. The Act contained many COVID-related tax provisions, as well as a slew of extenders ranging from one year to permanent. This article will focus on the miscellaneous tax and disaster relief provisions, which are more...
Paying the Price for Vice: The Evolving Landscape of Excise Taxes in America
While excise or vice taxes have long been a part of the American tax landscape related to alcohol and cigarettes, the recent invention of vaping and legalization of marijuana and other substances is changing the landscape.
What Are Excise Taxes?
Excise taxes are taxes on specific types of consumable products such as alcohol or tobacco for one of two reasons. First, as vice taxes in order to...
2021 Social Security Tax and Benefit Increases Announced
The Social Security Administration recently announced 2021 increases to both benefits and the taxable wage base for FICA taxes.
Increases Announced for 2021
Workers are facing a 3.7 percent increase in the taxable wage base subject to Social Security taxes, increasing the amount from $137,700 up to $142,800. This means high earners who make as much as or more than the taxable wage base...
Our Top 6 Year-End Tax Planning Tips
This has been a year of economic and tax uncertainty with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, potential stimulus bills and the presidential election. As a result, tax planning may be more important than usual this year. To help guide you, we will cover six year-end tax planning strategies – three for individuals and three for businesses.
Individual Year-End Tax Planning Tips and...
What’s Next for a Stimulus Bill?
The Senate Republicans’ slimmed-down stimulus bill recently failed to materialize after receiving less than the 60 votes needed to move forward. The “skinny” stimulus bill, with a price tag of only $650 billion, was intended to be a way to quickly inject stimulus into the economy and bypass both the multi-trillion-dollar Republican HEALS Act and the...