Velisa Bookkeeping Services, a dedicated and reliable Accounting and Tax firm, serving Maryland since 2017.
The IRS assumes you'll charge interest if you make personal loans, even to friends and family. Even if you don't charge interest, you'll owe tax on an assumed rate of interest. Lending to friends and relatives can be tricky, and not only because of the stress it can place on your relationships. There are tax …
Continue reading Avoid Tax Traps with Loans to Friends and Family
A key lesson within EVERY tax surprise Within each tax surprise is a common lesson. Here is an actual story that cost $24,000 and a lesson for everyone. What follows is a true story. A story with a sad ending. But one that has a lesson for everyone. Stick with the story, with a high …
Couples filing jointly still get the short end of the stick There are a lot of positive things about getting married, but the IRS' marriage penalty isn't one of them. The marriage penalty occurs when you pay more tax as a married couple than you would as two single filers making the same amount of …
Continue reading The Marriage Penalty: Alive and Well in the Tax Code
State tax authorities clamp down If you work remotely in another state or are thinking about changing your residence from one state to another, you may be caught in the middle of a major state tax audit. If you keep a home in your original state or you later decide to return, you could have …
Prepare now for potential income tax hits As your children grow older, you can easily be surprised by a larger tax bill. To help ease the possible burden, consider these tax implications as your dependent children age. A higher tax bill in your future At age 6: Loss of excess Child Tax Credit. In 2021, the …
Ten ideas to maximize the benefits of your investments Mutual funds benefit from the long-standing belief that they allow investors to diversify their holdings without buying individual stocks. But to the unwary investor, tax surprises are abound. From a tax planning viewpoint, here are some great mutual fund tips. Most of these tips assume your …
If you use an installment sale to sell property, you may save on taxes by spreading out the tax over a number of years. But be careful! If not properly planned, you may have a nasty tax surprise. If you use an installment sale to help sell property, you can benefit from tax deferral and …
With all the changes last year, now is a great time to conduct a tax checkup, especially since their is still time to make adjustments. As we enter mid-year, it's a good time to check your tax withholdings to ensure you haven't been paying too much or too little. This is especially true if your …
Continue reading Time for a Checkup – Are you withholding enough for your taxes?
Considering loaning yourself money from your retirement account? Read this first! For years you have put away money from your pay into your employer provided 401(k) retirement savings account. Your employer may have even matched 50% of your contribution. Now you want to take some of this money out in the form of a loan …
Continue reading Borrowing Money from Your 401(k) – Good idea? …not so much
Ideas to Lower Your 2021 Tax Bill Now is the time to begin tax planning for your 2021 return. Here are some ideas: Contribute to retirement accounts. Tally up all your 2021 contributions to retirement accounts so far, and estimate how much more you can stash away between now and December 31. So consider investing in …
Velisa Bookkeeping Services LLC 