From the category archives:

small or home-based business

Credit Card Reporting for Tax Purposes Debuts This Month

13 January 2012

Form W-2, check. Form 1099-Misc, check. Form 1098, check. Form 1099-K… wait, what? Yep, there’s a new form from the IRS out this year and one might be landing in your mailbox soon. The federal form 1099-K, Merchant Card and Third Party Network Payments, will debut early this year: forms 1099-K are due to merchants [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Ask the taxgirl: Getting Paid Under the Table

12 December 2011

Taxpayer asks: I was wrongfully fired off of assumptions. It’s a small family owned business. They used to pay me under the table. What are the steps/where do I turn to, to have them caught red handed for paying under the table? taxgirl says: This is one of those questions that is difficult to answer [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Ask the taxgirl: Self-employment Tax

10 December 2011

Taxpayer asks: Since the self-employment tax rate is 12.4 percent, why do I have to pay 15.3%? taxgirl says: Self-employment tax, sometimes called SE tax, is a tax consisting of Social [entity display="Security" type="section" active="true" key="/security"]Security[/entity] and Medicare taxes for those who work for themselves. It’s the equivalent of the total of Social [entity display="Security" [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

IRS Announces 2012 Mileage Rates

9 December 2011

The IRS has issued the 2012 optional standard mileage rates used for deducting the costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. They are: 55.5 cents per mile for business miles driven 23 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

IRS Offers Relief for Credit Card Reporting Requirements

1 November 2011

Panicked about those new form 1099-K (Merchant Card and Third Party Network Payments) requirements? Take a breath. The IRS has already figured out that things aren’t going terribly smoothly and is, as a result, offering “special transitional relief” for taxpayers and service providers. Contrary to some internet rumors, this isn’t the same as a free [...]

5 comments Read the full article →

New Credit Card Reporting Requirement Worries Some Taxpayers

25 October 2011

And you thought bank fees were bad… There’s a new form on the block, Form 1099-K, Merchant Card and Third Party Network Payments, making its debut in a few months, just in time for the 2012 filing season. The form is the result of new compliance reporting requirements for certain credit card and third party [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

The Business of Being Lindsay

13 October 2011

Ah, Lindsay Lohan. Always good for water cooler conversation. According to the gossip site TMZ, Lindsay is facing legal woes again. This time, she allegedly stiffed a limo company, Elite Transportation Limo and Security Services, for services from February 2009 to May 2009. The tally? A whopping $90,585.79. It’s the kind of thing that makes [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Back to School: Education Costs as Business Expenses

25 September 2011

t’s common to think about education expenses as they relate to fresh faced college students just starting out – but what about the rest of us? Can you deduct the cost of an education when you’re not pursuing a degree or certificate for your first career? You might. Under some circumstances, you may be able [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

IRS, Employers Finally Connect on Cell Phone Issues

14 September 2011

I have a terrible confession to make: I never leave the house without my cell phone. Really. I rely on my cell phone for work-related calls while I’m out of the office as well as email and messaging. I use it to check Twitter and post to Facebook, and occasionally check the web. I can [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Tax Court Rules Bathroom Deduction All Wet

19 August 2011

Every person in America has that certain uncle, brother or father that you joke does all their best work in the bathroom. Well, now you can point to Luis Bulas, a Florida accountant, as proof that best work or no, the bathroom is, in fact, not necessarily deductible as a home office expense. And nope, [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries