Mark's Tax Service & Consulting

Tax Highlights - What the tax changes mean for Individuals and their clients and businesses: Individuals and their families and their clients, as well as most Americans, with incomes below the thresholds will receive cash payments from the federal government in the amount of $1,200 per adult plus $500 for each child under the age of 17. These payments should be sent out starting in April. Individuals with retirement accounts, including IRAs, can take early withdrawals of up t...o $100,000 from those accounts without having to pay the 10% early-withdrawal penalty. Those who withdraw such funds can recontribute them to the plan over three years or can keep the money and pay the tax on the withdrawals over a three-year period. Individuals aged 70 1/2 or older do not have to worry about taking required minimum distributions from retirement plans in 2020, or to pay the taxes on those distributions. Individuals who make donations of up to $300 in charitable contributions in 2020 can deduct them whether they itemize or not. If your business has 100 or fewer employees, you can claim a refundable employee retention tax credit against payroll taxes of up to $5,000 per employee under certain circumstances. Larger employers also can claim the credit, but with more restrictions. Employers and self-employed individuals can delay the payment of the employer-portion of the FICA (Social Security) payroll taxes or one-half the SECA (self-employment taxes) until after 2020 - one half is due in 2021 and the other half in 2022. Businesses with losses can carry back net operating losses (NOLs) to prior taxable years and get refunds of earlier taxes paid.

CARES Student Loan Impacts: Suspends all payment due on federal student loans for 6 months. Interest shall not accrue on these during this forbearance.... For the purpose of loan forgiveness, loans will be deemed paid during the forbearance. Prohibits negative credit reporting or involuntary debt collection during forbearance period.

Several impacts of the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act) may impact your specific situation. including mortgages, student loans and retirement account withdrawals. I will be posting information on each topic. If you have questions, please let me know and feel free to share this information.

Recent Legislation made several changes that may impact your tax situation. In addition to the IRS and NYS extending the filing deadline to July 15th, there are other changes listed here. If you have questions, give me a call. MORTGAGE IMPACTS:... Mortgage Forbearance - Borrowers of government-backed mortgages ((Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD, VA and USDA) can request up to 360-day payment forbearance without proof of hardship. No additional fees, interest, or penalties can be assessed for the forbearance. Except for abandoned or vacant property, there may be no foreclosure actions for 60 days from 3/18/2020. Owners of multifamily properties who were current on their mortgage payments as of February 1, 2020, and have federally insured, assisted, or supplemented loan (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA or any loans backed or assisted by any branch of the federal government, including LIHTC) may request forbearance for 30 days due to financial hardship, with extensions of up to a total of 90 days. Borrowers receiving the forbearance may not evict or charge late fees to tenants for the duration of the forbearance period. Moratorium on eviction filings, or fees or penalties for tenants for nonpayment of rent for 120 days on properties insured, guaranteed, supplemented, protected, or assisted in any way by HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the rural housing voucher program, covered by the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. $1.25b for Section 8 voucher rental assistance for seniors, the disabled, and low-income working families, who will experience loss of income from the coronavirus.

We prepare Your taxes like we prepare our own. - Personalized Service - Reasonable fees - Year round advice - Always available. ... Give us a call today 585-331-7680

Will You Owe Taxes on Your Tax Return? Here are a couple steps you can take now to ensure you won’t owe taxes for 2019 when you file your return next year. 1) Review your withholdings. The IRS has a Tax Withholding Estimator located at https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator.... Click on the icon "Tax Withholding Estimator" and answer the questions presented. This will take about 15 20 minutes. Make sure you have any recent paystubs, or other income statements available when you begin. Once you’ve completed this process you will be able to make adjustments by providing your human resource department with a new W-4, the IRS form used to change withholdings. If you’re self employed or retired, this process will require additional information. As always, if you need help, give us a call to set a time to review. 2) Increase your retirement plan savings. If your employer has a 401K or other retirement savings plan available and you are not contributing to it, you may want to consider enrolling in it. Not only are your contributions typically not subject to income tax at the time you make them, but you are in essence paying future you instead of paying someone else like the IRS. If your employer does not have a retirement savings plan, you may be able to set one up yourself. Many financial institutions offer Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA’s) that you can contribute to. Again contributions are typically not taxed in the year you put money into them. Talk to your local bank or search online to find a provider. Again, if you have questions you can always give us a call.

Considering refinancing or taking out a home equity loan to take cash out of your home? Recent changes to Income taxes may impact your decision. If you are going to use the money to make improvements to your home, then the interest on either will be tax deductible. If you want the money to pay off credit card debt, take a vacation or pay for your child’s college then a home equity loan may not be the way to go. ... Under recent tax changes (Tax Cuts and Job Act), interest on a home equity loan used for anything other than home improvements is NOT tax deductible, however all interest on your mortgage IS tax deductible Of course, there are other considerations beside tax implications that should factor into your decision including: Change in your mortgage payment a refinance replaces your current mortgage payment whereas a home equity loan payment would be in addition to your current mortgage payment. Another tool, a home equity line of credit (HELOC), has a variable rate and payments which change depending on the interest rate and how much of you line of credit you are using. On a HELOC, you only pay interest on the part that you are using. For example, if you have a $10,000 HELOC but are only using $2,000 you only pay interest on the $2,000. For more information, check out: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov//0227-home-equity-loans-and-c. and as always, if you have any questions, please give us a call.

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Ever think about collecting Social Security before you reach your full retirement age? If you're going to continue working while collecting, there are a couple impacts you should be aware of. First, if you earn over a certain amount, Social Security benefits may be reduced. You can see more information here: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10069.pdf... Next, if you have income over a certain amount, up to 85% of your Social Security benefits may be subject to income tax. You can see more information here: https://www.ssa.gov/planners/taxes.html If you any questions about this, give us a call!

20 Days and counting til Tax Day! Give me a call to make your appointment. Let's get that return done.

Many people use IRAs, 401(k) and other accounts to save money for their retirement years, but what if you need to tap that money before age 59 1/2? The bad news is that you generally have to pay a 10 percent penalty for early withdrawal of your funds. While that may seem unfair (after all, most of it is probably your money), you need to remember that the purpose of these types of plans is to save money for the years when you are no longer working. However, there may be times ...when you need access to those funds before you've reached retirement age. The good news is that under IRS rules you may be able to use one of the following exceptions to avoid paying the tax penalty. However, you need to remember that although the exceptions listed below will help you avoid the 10 percent penalty tax, you are still liable for any regular income tax that's owed on the funds that you've withdrawn. Some examples are: 1) If you are the beneficiary of a deceased IRA owner 2) If you are totally and permanently disabled 3) If you are subject to an IRS levy 4) If you have to pay your own healthcare premiums 5) If you have out of pocket medical expenses 6) If you are using the money to buy your first home. Give us a call if you have questions.