(This post is part of my Small Business Startup & Survival Guide. You can catch up on the whole series here.) When you’re a small business, you might not have the resources (nor the need) for a full time staff. You might opt to have one or two employees who work part-time, one or two who…
For as long as I’ve been banging away on the keyboard about tax and tax policy, I don’t believe I’ve seen anything more polarizing than the “new” health care act which was signed into law last year. From the so-called Cadillac plans to the increased 1099 reporting requirements, no single piece of legislation has generated…
Here’s the first bit of information you need to know about the federal form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate: it only applies to employees. If you’re self-employed, you can move along, there’s nothing to see here for you (though you may want to check out other IRS info as outlined on Publication 4591, Small Business…
If you’ve ever taken a good look at your form W-2, you’ve probably found yourself wondering about who qualifies as a “statutory employee.” It’s listed right there on your form, with a checkbox at box 13 next to the fairly well-known box for retirement plans. But it’s rare that you see it checked, so… what…
I know. This sounds like something that Michael Kors might be putting out. Unfortunately, golden parachute payments have nothing to do with the world of fashion – but don’t stop reading yet! This is some interesting stuff… A golden parachute payment is an amount of money agreed upon in advance – and written into a…
Taxpayer asks: I have an employee whose child care center fees just went up. So to take some of the burden off her shoulders we are paying for the rest it adds up to $300 a month. Now-her babysitter is her sister in law who works part time but does babysitting on the side. My…
Taxpayer asks: Hello Taxgirl,I have a simple, yet complicated tax question. I worked for a company last year for the first 5 months, then for the last 7 months I was self- employed. Do I file two separate forms? Anything you can tell me I will greatly appreciate.Thank you, Taxgirl says: Here’s a lawyerly answer…
Taxpayer asks: I was working as an independent contractor in this small company. At that time, I was getting paid with no taxes being withheld. I assumed I was getting paid under the table, but 6 months after I stopped working there I received a phone call from them asking for my SSN. I did…
Taxpayer asks: I left my job as an editor at a media company, but continue to do some freelance work for them. When I submitted an invoice, I was told that for tax purposes I couldn’t be paid by them as an independent contractor in the same year that I was an employee. This means…
Apparently not. It’s rare that I blog about client matters. I like to keep them private for a variety of reasons, not the least of which are ethical considerations. But a recent client matter has me steamed. Really steamed. And it’s blog-worthy. I’ll keep it generic. A client had a tax matter that needed immediate…