Archive for the ‘Tax – General’ Category

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Garden Grove, CA Wins $12 Million Super Lotto Prize – Lump Sum or Installments??

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

http://www.blakechristian.com/blog/?s=lottery

Since another local person won a good sized prize – it is worth reviewing the link above.

Larger prizes almost always support taking the winnings in installments since taxpayers will get graduated tax rates, personal exemptions and itemized deductions shaved off their taxable income over the entire installment period (vs. just one year).

It is also important to fully evaluate who the actual owners of the ticket are.  The purchaser?  Other family members?  Friends?  Co-workers?  The tax difference when the income is spread over multiple winners can be significant — and is much better than one person claiming the prize and then gifting a portion to others who may have a partial claim.

More questions? – (562) 216-1800.

 

 

Posted in Finance/ Retirement, General Business Matters, Lottery Tax Planning, Tax - General | No Comments »

California Enterprise Zone Proposed Changes Will Likely Hurt Small Businesses and Their Minority Employees

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

http://lbbusinessjournal.com/long-beach-business-journal-newswatch/1402-state-officials-reviewing-possible-changes-to-enterprise-zone.html

California’s Housing & Community Development (HCD) Department runs the statewide EZ program which includes 42 California cities.  They have proposed changes to the employee vouchering process, which will significantly complicate getting certifications from cities to confirm that an employee  is eligible to earn credits for the employer.   Virtually all the qualified businesses operate in the most economically challenged areas of the state and hire large numbers of inner-city employees — who are also typically economically challenged.

These changes are still under review, but are expected to be released in June of 2013.

California’s tax rate hit 9.3% fairly quickly and climb as high as 13.3%  — the highest in the country.  These EZ Program credits are necessary to give taxpayers a relatively small tax reduction compared to other states.

More EZ information, including the proposed vouchering regulations, can be found at: http://www.hcvt.com/cpa-accounting-services/tax/hiring-equipment-credits-ez-studies/   Or call me at: (562) 216-1800.

 

Posted in California Enterprize Zone, General Business Matters, Green/ Eco Credits, Tax - General, Tax - State & Federal Hiring and Equipment Credits | No Comments »

Tax Transparency – How Technology, Social Activism and Government Enforcement is Altering the Tax Compliance and Tax Policy Process

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

From the AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider   http://www.cpa2biz.com/search/results.jsp?N=55+79&mode=content

 

Corporate tax transparency and corporate tax reform

Trends in technology and increased availability of information have placed a spotlight on corporate and individual taxpayer compliance and financial stewardship.

March 28, 2013 by Blake E. Christian, CPA/ MBT

Last  month I attended the annual University of Southern California Gould School of  Law Tax Institute conference. As usual, the  quality of the presenters, as well as the technical content, was exceptionally  high.

While  there were plenty of presentations covering the American Taxpayer Relief Act  (ATRA) of 2012, P.L. 112-240, a few notable presentations covered some  interesting trends and predictions relevant to business taxpayers.

Following  is a summary of a few tax trends and policy discussions:

Technology and tax transparency (Click the link for the full article):

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2013/CorpTax/TaxTransparency.jsp

Posted in Finance/ Retirement, International, Politics, Tax - General, Tax - State & Federal Hiring and Equipment Credits | No Comments »

New 2013 3.8% Federal Obamacare Tax on Unearned Income

Sunday, March 24th, 2013

The new 3.8% Obamacare tax of 3.8% kicks in at $200,000 (S)/ $250,000 ((MFJ) of Modified AGI and will apply to a large number of taxpayers. This new tax applies to interest, dividends, capital gains and other passive income. Advanced planning to minimize net investment income and properly classify active and passive activites is important to minimize this tax. Please note that the attached article was published BEFORE passage of the 2013 Tax Act, and the dividend rate only rose to 20% (vs. 39.6%).

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2012/CorpTax/MedicareInvestmentIncome.jsp

Posted in Healthcare, Tax - General | No Comments »

C Corps vs. S Corps and LLCs – C Corps Worth a Second Look With 2013 Individual Tax Rate Hikes

Sunday, March 24th, 2013

I am not suggesting that taxpayers convert their pass-trough entities to C Corps, but with the fedeal and California bump in rates, it may be worth evalauting a C Corp for any new operations. This works best for capital-intensive operations holding assets that are not likely to appreciate. Double-taxation on exit must be evalauted. Annual savings can make this move compelling.

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2012/CorpTax/CCorporationsVogue.jsp

Posted in General Business Matters, Tax - General, Tax - State & Federal Hiring and Equipment Credits, Uncategorized | No Comments »

2013 Federal Taxpayer Relief Act Summary – HCVT LLP

Sunday, March 24th, 2013

In addition to increased federal tax rates for individual taxpayers, the 2013 changes provide some valuable tax benefits for individulas and businesses. http://hcvt.com/wp-content/files/American_Taxpayer_Relief_Act_-_FINAL.pdf

Posted in Tax - General | No Comments »

Issuing or Recieving Stock or Other Equity Interests Can Produce Significant Tax Liabilities and Benefits for the Parties

Monday, July 30th, 2012

AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider Article – IRC Section 83 – Property in Exchange For Services.

Businesses issuing equity interests to employees and service providors results in very significant tax issues for both the company and the service providor. Quick action(30 days) is required by the recipient when restricted stock is issued in order to minimize ordinary income and maximize future capital gain income.

These complex rules are overlooked or misunderstood in many cases and can create huge issues if the value of the equity interests increase significantly after issuance.

http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/Newsletters/Articles_2012/CorpTax/IRSSec83bElectionGuidance.jsp#.UBXYLQJ_5Mc.facebook

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Posted in Finance/ Retirement, General Business Matters, Tax - General | No Comments »

California Tax System is #2 (From the Bottom)

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

A Race to The Bottom….

California’s business friendliness reached a new low in this year’s annual survey by the Tax Foundation.  With a one-point drop to 49th place, California was beaten out by New York for the bottom spot.

As a result of the combination of: 1) 2010 California legislation which denies the use of Net Operating Loss carryovers in 2010 and 2011, as well as accelerating quarterly estimates and 2) California’s mid-term election results in bringing in many of the same “usual (tax-and-spend) suspects” at both the state and federal level, the Golden State is well positioned to drop to 50th place next year.

Read the in-depth comparison of business friendly and not-so-business friendly states to operate in:

http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/topic/90.html

On the positive side, California continues to allow the use of the valuable Enterprise Zone and R&D tax credits.  For more information, check out the library of articles at:

http://www.blakechristian.com/hiring_tax_credits.html

For post-election tax planning information and the impact of the potential expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts, please also check-out Video #4 at:

http://www.losangelesbtv.com/BlakeChristian.html

Posted in California Enterprize Zone, General Business Matters, Politics, Tax - General, Tax - State & Federal Hiring and Equipment Credits | 1 Comment »

Tax Impact From Mid-Term Elections – Good News We Think

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

The voters have spoken and the Congressireonal balance of power has shifted dramatically.  So how will this impact future federal tax policy?    We think the new composition will serve the U.S. taxpayers well in terms of limiting tax hikes and controlling deficit spending.

The following video (Video #4) and other other links will provide you some useful guidance:

 http://www.losangelesbtv.com/BlakeChristian.html

 

Additional Library of tax and economic videos can be accessed at:

http://www.hcvt.com/Resources-Links/media.html

and

http://www.youtube.com/user/bchristiantax1

 

The expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts in 2011 will equate to a $138 Billion tax hit in 2011 and $200 Billion in 2012 to wealthy and middle-class U.S. taxpayers.   An extension of the Bush Tax Cuts are predicted to increase GNP by .5% to 1.4%  and the Congressional Budget Office predicts job creation in the 1.3 to 3.5 Million full-time jobs.

Check out the Financial Times’  Op-Ed:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/74fc990a-e79a-11df-8ade-00144feab49a.html

For a full library of my AICPA Tax Articles, click the link below:

http://www.cpa2biz.com/search/results.jsp?mode=content&N=79&Ns=P_UpdatedDate|1

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Posted in Finance/ Retirement, General Business Matters, Politics, Tax - General | 2 Comments »

Obama Must Break His Campaign Tax Promise

Monday, August 9th, 2010

Due to increasing deficits, a languishing economy and horrendous unemployment rates, some experts are saying that President Obama has little choice to break his promise of not increasing taxes on the middle class.

For an interesting analysis by Financial Times’ columnist Clive Cook, please read the following article:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cffa56fa-9d97-11df-a37c-00144feab49a.html

 

Read more Clive Cook U.S. tax policy analysis:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1b4c44d8-a32e-11df-8cf4-00144feabdc0.html

For weekly tax updates, sign up to follow me at:

www.twitter/taxcredits_cpa

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Posted in Finance/ Retirement, Politics, Tax - General | No Comments »

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