In the course of your professional and personal life, you have collected many documents. Your first thought is to clear up some of the clutter and throw everything out....but wait; those documents you're about to throw away might actually need to be retained for a specific period of time! [...]
March 2010, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was signed into law creating new reporting requirements for offshore assets and accounts. FATCA requires US citizens and US residents to report all offshore assets on Form 8938 with their tax return as well to file Form 114, Report of [...]
The IRS assesses penalties for underpayment of income tax. If you did not pay enough tax throughout the year, either through withholding or by making estimated tax payments, you may have to pay a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax. What are the requirements to avoid penalties? The required [...]
If you’re concerned about your family’s financial well-being after you’re gone, life insurance can provide peace of mind. Going a step further and setting up an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) to hold the policy offers additional estate planning benefits. Asset protection If you’re concerned about your heirs’ money [...]
The decision relative to what basis of accounting you should select for tax purposes is an important one. The two primary methods available are the cash basis method or the accrual basis method. The core difference between these two methods of accounting pertains to when revenue and expenses are [...]
Last year you may have made significant gifts to your children, grandchildren or other heirs as part of your estate planning strategy. Or perhaps you just wanted to provide loved ones with some helpful financial support. Regardless of the reason for making a gift, it’s important to know under [...]
2016 charitable deductions: Substantiate them or lose them Sharing your wealth with a favorite charity can benefit those in need and reduce your taxable estate. In addition, your donations can ease your income tax liability. But you must meet IRS substantiation requirements. If you fail to do so, the [...]
Incentive stock options allow you to buy company stock in the future at a fixed price equal to or greater than the stock’s fair market value on the grant date. If the stock appreciates, you can buy shares at a price below what they’re then trading for. However, complex [...]
The Internal Revenue Service has issued a warning to taxpayers, urging them to be wary of an influx of IRS imposter scams which use "robo-calls" and other new strategies to demand payments. Recently there has been an increase in automated phone calls in which scam artists leave messages urging [...]
We want to make you aware that the Massachusetts Department of Revenue may be increasing its efforts in auditing service businesses for sales and use tax filings. Within the state of Massachusetts, service activity is primarily not subject to sales tax. However, if your service business has a component [...]
