Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Start Planning Now For Next Year’s Taxes

You may be tempted to forget all about your taxes once you’ve filed your tax return. Do not give in to that temptation.

If you start your tax planning now, you may avoid a tax surprise when you file next year. Now is a good time to set up a system so you can keep your tax records safe and easy to find.

Here are some IRS tips to give you a leg up on next year’s taxes:
  • Take action when life changes occur.  Some life events can change the amount of tax you pay. Some examples that can do that include a change in marital status or the birth of a child. When they happen, you may need to change the amount of tax withheld from your pay. To do that, file a new Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, with your employer. Use the IRS Withholding Calculator tool on IRS.gov to help you fill out the form.
  • Report changes in circumstances to the Health Insurance Marketplace.  If you enroll in insurance coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace in 2015, you should report changes in circumstances to the Marketplace when they happen. Report events such as changes in your income or family size. Doing so will help you avoid getting too much or too little financial assistance in advance.
  • Keep records safe.  Put your 2014 tax return and supporting records in a safe place. If you ever need your tax return or records, it will be easy for you to get them. For example, you may need a copy of your tax return if you apply for a home loan or financial aid. You should use your tax return as a guide when you do your taxes next year.
  • Stay organized.  Make tax time easier. Have your family put tax records in the same place during the year. That way you won’t have to search for misplaced records when you file next year.
  • Think about itemizing.  If you claim a standard deduction on your tax return, you may be able to lower your taxes if you itemize deductions instead. A donation to charity could mean some tax savings. See the instructions for Schedule A, Itemized Deductions, for a list of deductions.

Planning now can pay off with savings at tax time next year.



For help with your legal needs contact a business, tax, and health care law attorney at the offices of AttorneyBritt.

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Friday, April 17, 2015

What To Know About Late Filing And Late Paying Penalties

April 15 was the tax day deadline for most people. If you are due a refund there is no penalty if you file a late tax return. But if you owe tax, and you failed to file and pay on time, you will usually owe interest and penalties on the tax you pay late. You should file your tax return and pay the tax as soon as possible to stop them.

Here are eight facts that you should know about these penalties.  

1.    Two penalties may apply.  If you file your federal tax return late and owe tax with the return, two penalties may apply. The first is a failure-to-file penalty for late filing. The second is a failure-to-pay penalty for paying late.

2.    Penalty for late filing.  The failure-to-file penalty is normally 5 percent of the unpaid taxes for each month or part of a month that a tax return is late. It will not exceed 25 percent of your unpaid taxes.

3.    Minimum late filing penalty.  If you file your return more than 60 days after the due date or extended due date, the minimum penalty for late filing is the smaller of $135 or 100 percent of the unpaid tax.

4.    Penalty for late payment.  The failure-to-pay penalty is generally 0.5 percent per month of your unpaid taxes. It applies for each month or part of a month your taxes remain unpaid and starts accruing the day after taxes are due. It can build up to as much as 25 percent of your unpaid taxes.

5.    Combined penalty per month.  If the failure-to-file penalty and the failure-to-pay penalty both apply in any month, the maximum amount charged for those two penalties that month is 5 percent.

6.    File even if you can’t pay.  In most cases, the failure-to-file penalty is 10 times more than the failure-to-pay penalty. So if you can’t pay in full, you should file your tax return and pay as much as you can. Use IRS Direct Pay to pay your tax directly from your checking or savings account. You should try other options to pay, such as getting a loan or paying by debit or credit card. The IRS will work with you to help you resolve your tax debt. Most people can set up an installment agreement with the IRS using the Online Payment Agreement tool on IRS.gov.

7.    Late payment penalty may not apply.  If you requested an extension of time to file your income tax return by the tax due date and paid at least 90 percent of the taxes you owe, you may not face a failure-to-pay penalty. However, you must pay the remaining balance by the extended due date. You will owe interest on any taxes you pay after the April 15 due date.

8.    No penalty if reasonable cause.  You will not have to pay a failure-to-file or failure-to-pay penalty if you can show reasonable cause for not filing or paying on time. There is also penalty relief available for repayment of excess advance payments of the premium tax credit for 2014.

Additional IRS Resources:
IRS YouTube Videos:
IRS Podcasts:
For help with your legal needs contact a business, tax, and health care law attorney at the offices of AttorneyBritt.

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Thursday, April 16, 2015

If You Missed The Tax Deadline These Tips Can Help


April 15 has come and gone. If you didn’t file a tax return or an extension but should have, you need to take action now. 

Here are some tips for taxpayers who missed the tax filing deadline:


  • File as soon as you can.  If you owe taxes, you should file and pay as soon as you can. This will stop the interest and penalties that you will owe. IRS Direct Pay offers you a free, secure and easy way to pay your tax directly from your checking or savings account. There is no penalty for filing a late return if you are due a refund. The sooner you file, the sooner you’ll get it.
  • IRS Free File is your best choice.  Nearly everyone can use IRS Free File to e-file their federal taxes for free. If your income was $60,000 or less, you can use free brand-name tax software. If you made more than $60,000, use Free File Fillable Forms to e-file. This program uses electronic versions of IRS paper forms. It does some of the math and it works best for those who are used to doing their own taxes. Either way, you have a free option that you can only access on IRS.gov. It’s available at least through the Oct. 15 extension period.  
  • Use IRS e-file to do your taxes.  No matter who prepares your tax return, you can use IRS e-file through Oct. 15. E-file is the easiest, safest and most accurate way to file your taxes. The IRS will confirm that it received your tax return. The IRS issues more than nine out of 10 refunds in less than 21 days.
  • Pay as much as you can.  If you owe tax but can’t pay it in full, you should pay as much as you can when you file your tax return. IRS electronic payment options are the quickest and easiest way to pay your taxes. Pay the rest of the tax you still owe as soon as possible. Doing so will reduce future penalties and interest.
  • Use the IRS.gov tool to pay over time.  If you need more time to pay your tax, you can apply for an installment agreement with the IRS. The best way to apply is to use the IRS Online Payment Agreement tool. You can use the IRS.gov tool to set up a direct debit agreement. You don’t need to write and mail a check each month with a direct debit plan. If you don’t use the tool, you can use Form 9465, Installment Agreement Request to apply. You can get the form on IRS.gov/forms at any time.
  • A refund may be waiting.  If you are due a refund, you should file as soon as possible to get it. Even if you are not required to file, you may still get a refund. This could apply if you had taxes withheld from your wages or you qualify for certain tax credits. If you do not file your return within three years, you could lose your right to the refund.

Additional IRS Resources:
IRS YouTube Videos:
IRS Podcasts:
For help with your legal needs contact a business, tax, and health care law attorney at the offices of AttorneyBritt.

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Wednesday, April 8, 2015

How Can A Religious Person Obey Their Conscience Without Getting Sued Out Of Existence - Securing Your First Amendment Rights Against The Left Wing Mafioso

There is much in the news for many weeks now about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act or RFRA, and about bakers, florists, and photographers being forced out of business or into bankruptcy because they opposed being forced to support gay marriages with their goods and services.

The results of all these cases make it clear that without legislative protections (which seems unlikely given how the left wing and their media puppets demagogue this issue) that devoutly religious business owners without proper pre-planning will continue to be forced to either obey their conscience or go out of business.

The purpose of this blog post is to lay the basic groundwork for structuring one's business transactions so that the choice between one's conscience and one's livelihood can be safely avoided.

1.  Do not operate your business as a sole proprietorship.  You need to organize your business as either a corporation or an LLC.

2.  Your corporation or LLC should have more than one owner.  Give a relative, friend, or business associate a 1% to 5% ownership stake in your business.  That ownership stake doesn't have to have any management or voting rights associated with it.  Two florists or a baker and a florist could trade these small ownership interests with each other.  The purpose of having multiple owners is so that some left wing judge doesn't rule that your 100% single owner corporation/LLC is a sham or was formed for some improper purpose.  This is an important safe guard that should not be avoided because its inconvenient.  Also, its best if the owner of the small percentage is not your spouse, if possible.  Parents, children, aunts, uncles, cousins are all better.  Best yet someone not related to you at all.  Use your spouse as a last resort. 

3.  Your corporation/LLC should have a special standard customer contract applicable to all customers.  Customers should get a copy of that contract and it should be signed and dated by the customer before the customer pays for any good or service and before any order by the customer is accepted by the corporation/LLC.  The contract can be an actual contract document for say a photographer or it might be printed on the customer's order ticket that they sign when ordering a cake or other product or service.
  • The contract should make it clear that the customer is contracting with the corporation/LLC and not a specific individual.
  • The contract should provide the corporation/LLC reserves the right in its sole and unfettered discretion to pick the particular person or independent contractor to be assigned by the corporation/LLC to make, construct, deliver, and/or provide any and all goods and services required under the contract.
  • The business owner should arrange in advance to have another person, whether an independent person or a person employed by or the owner of a competing business ready to perform the work, provide the service, and/or deliver the goods and services called for under the contract with the customer.  The independent contractor who does the work should be qualified to do the work.
Now if for example a gay customer approaches a photography business to photograph a gay wedding and that is something the majority business owner objects to doing personally, the business owner takes the order, has the customer sign the contract, and then assigns an independent contractor who doesn't object to doing the gay wedding to handle the job for the corporation/LLC in place of the majority business owner.  Yes the business owner won't end up making much if any money on the order, but that is not any different from refusing to do it to begin with.  The big difference is the left wing mafioso can't sue your business for refusing to photograph their gay wedding.

Unless the left wing repeals laws against slavery a gay person can not force a corporation/LLC to assign a specific individual to photograph their wedding or provide them some other good or service no matter how much they may want to do otherwise.  

Note also that it is well established law that a Corporation/LLC which employs more than 15 people MUST and those that employ less than 15 people may provide religious accommodations to their employees.  The corporation/LLC provides the good or service requested but it uses a different employee or independent contractor to provide that good or service.  That keeps the corporation/LLC in compliance with the left wing mafioso, and the corporation/LLC does not have to give a reason why it chose to assign any particular employee or independent contractor to do the work.  Those reasons could include the owner was sick that day, the corporation has a policy to provide religious accommodation to its employees, the job site location was too far away, the business owner was on vacation that day.  Best however is to give no reason at all unless ordered to by a court of law.  Silence is your friend !! 

There are additional steps that could be taken to further protect the business assets of a religious business owner.  Those things could include having all the assets used in the business owned by a second corporation/LLC.  The second corporation/LLC would be owned by the same business owner(s) as the first corporation or by his/her spouse or child, etc. and then have the first corporation/LLC that provides goods/services to the public to lease the assets used in the business from the second corporation/LLC at a fair market rental rate.  Net effect is no loss of cash to the total business structure, but if the business that provides goods and services is sued it won't have any assets to lose.

The issues raised by this blog post are complex and there are many possible nuances and other issues to consider in putting this kind of strategy in place.  Therefore, a business owner seeking help with this kind of thing should retain the services of a qualified business lawyer.

For help with your legal needs contact a business, tax, and health care law attorney at the offices of AttorneyBritt.

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