Year End Things To Do
John Hyre here. Sorry I have “gone dark” for the last 45 or so days. The usual pile up of year-end work (i.e. – procrastinating entrepreneurs planning at the last minute kills my schedule every November & December) was brutal this year. Add some midnight oil being burned to digest the massive changes in the law and my schedule has been a bit overdone, to say the least.
I have included a list of “last minute” “to-do’s” and “year-end tax items” for your consideration.
Also: I will be presenting a webinar on new tax law changes and what real estate investors, small businesses, and SDIRA/401k investors should be doing about it. Congress has not given us much time to think or analyze, the changes take effect 1/1/18! The webinar will be on Thursday, January 4th. At $99, it is much cheaper than paying by the hour ($400/hour from January 1st) for the same information, click HERE if interested.
In addition: Some of you have asked when the next SDIRA/401k workshop would be. It is February 3rd & 4th in Tampa, click HERE for more information.
Year End THINGS TO DO
- Get a notarized plan in place for a valuable $2,500 “expensing policy” (see the link at the end of this newsletter for more details)
- Get your “Accountable Reimbursement Plan” in place (see the other link at the end of this newsletter for more details)
- Prepay 2017 property taxes (that are due in 2018) on your personal residence – their deductibility will be limited after 2017
- This strategy will not work with 2018 income taxes
- Consider prepaying 2018 charitable contributions in 2017 if you can afford to do so – itemized deductions will be limited after 2017, you want to benefit from them now if at all possible
- You should almost certainly defer income into 2018 if possible – your bracket will probably be lower, and you paying taxes later beats paying them now
“Miscellaneous Itemized Deductions” are DEAD after 2017. Consider prepaying 2018 expenses for:
- Appraisal fees for a casualty loss or charitable contribution;
- Casualty and theft losses from property used in performing services as an employee;
- Clerical help and office rent in caring for investments (“investments” mean activities that do not rise to the level of a “trade or business”);
- Depreciation on home computers used for investments;
- Excess deductions (including administrative expenses) allowed a beneficiary on termination of an estate or trust;
- Fees to collect interest and dividends;
- Hobby expenses, but generally not more than hobby income;
- Indirect miscellaneous deductions from pass-through entities;
- Investment fees and expenses;
- Loss on deposits in an insolvent or bankrupt financial institution;
- Loss on traditional IRAs or Roth IRAs, when all amounts have been distributed;
- Repayments of income;
- Safe deposit box rental fees, except for storing jewelry and other personal effects;
- Service charges on dividend reinvestment plans; and
- Trustee’s fees for an IRA, if separately billed and paid.
- Tax prep (personal return only and only the non-business portions of it)
- Employee expenses
- Business bad debt of an employee;
- Business liability insurance premiums;
- Damages paid to a former employer for breach of an employment contract;
- Depreciation on a computer a taxpayer’s employer requires him to use in his W2 job;
- Dues to a chamber of commerce if membership helps the taxpayer perform his W2 job;
- Dues to professional societies;
- Educator expenses;
- Home office or part of a taxpayer’s home used regularly and exclusively in the taxpayer’s work;
- Job search expenses in the taxpayer’s present occupation;
- Laboratory breakage fees;
- Legal fees related to the taxpayer’s W2 job;
- Licenses and regulatory fees;
- Malpractice insurance premiums;
- Medical examinations required by an employer;
- Occupational taxes;
- Passport fees for a business trip;
- Repayment of an income aid payment received under an employer’s plan;
- Research expenses of a college professor;
- Rural mail carriers’ vehicle expenses;
- Subscriptions to professional journals and trade magazines related to the taxpayer’s W2 job;
- Tools and supplies used in the taxpayer’s W2 job;
- Purchase of travel, transportation, meals, entertainment, gifts, and local lodging related to the taxpayer’s W2 job;
- Union dues and expenses;
- Work clothes and uniforms if required and not suitable for everyday use; and
- W2 job-related education.
- Repayments of income received under a claim of right (only subject to the two percent
- floor if less than $3,000);
- Repayments of Social Security benefits; and
- The share of deductible investment expenses from pass-through entities.
Documents
Expensing Letter Dec 26 2017 for 2018
Thank you for the Webinar on the new tax law . Good job!