Portability elections allow a surviving spouse to apply a deceased spouse’s unused federal gift and estate tax exemption amount toward their transfers during life or at death. The 2020 exemption is $11.58 million. For 2021, it will increase to $11.7 million. To secure these benefits, the deceased spouse’s executor must have made a portability election […]

In case you missed it the first time... Below is a transcript as well: Amanda: Hi, we'd like to welcome everyone to today's webinar, the Guide to Getting Your PPP Loan Forgiveness Application Accepted. We know that there's a lot of questions around this today. So a little bit of housekeeping, we're going to run […]

Depending on the type of business ventures you are engaged in, the passive activity loss rules may or may not apply to your earnings. It is important to know the difference between passive and nonpassive income and see if these rules apply to you.  The rules that apply to passive activities say that you can’t […]

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has published a Notice of Proposed Regulations clarifying that state and local income taxes attributed to and paid by a pass-through entity are permissible tax deductions for that pass-through entity. What this means for you: The proposed regulations will permit partnerships and S corporations to deduct the full amount of […]

The deadline for individual taxpayers who extended their 2019 tax returns was October 15th, and the original deadline was on July 15th—both were extended due to COVID-19. Once you finish filing last year’s return, it’s normal to wonder which records you can throw away. Here’s what you must keep, and what you can discard. General […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on individuals and families. As a result, some people are borrowing from their companies’ qualified retirement plans. The CARES Act includes some temporary rule changes to this loan type. Given the risks of borrowing from a retirement plan, however, this step should be avoided whenever possible. Borrowing from your […]

A new rule finalized by the Financial Accounting Standards board deferred the effective date of the updated long-term insurance standard again. The intention of the FASB is to allow more time for insurers to implement changes during COVID-19. What is changing The Accounting Standards Updated is the result of 12 years of work. (ASU) No. […]

Many married couples file jointly. But what does that mean for your individual liability? And if you get divorced, how does that play in? Relief may be available if for certain past-due taxes. Joint and several liability explained  For married couples filing jointly, each person is “jointly and severally” liable for the full amount due. […]

The planned increase in the social security wage base is important for small business to be aware of.  Recently, the Social Security Administration announced that the maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax will increase from $137,700 in 2020 to $142,800 in 2021. For 2021, the FICA tax rate for employers and employees is 7.65% […]