Mike's weekly post usually concentrated on tax saving strategies.
Even if you have never before qualified for a home office deduction, you may be able to now. Starting a few years ago, the IRS began to apply more liberal rules, allowing more people to qualify for the write-off. Specifically, the old, hard-to-meet “principal place of business” standard was made much more taxpayer-friendly. But there are other scenarios that allow you to claim deductions as well.
Can a Self-Emplyed person, who is still working full-time skip thier Pension/IRA RMD (Required Minimum Distribution)?
No. Generally, you must begin taking "required minimum distributions" (RMDs) from your qualified retirement plans and IRAs after you turn age 70 1/2. Then you must continue taking RMDs for each succeeding tax year.
However, you can delay RMDs from qualified plans if you're still working full time and you don't own 5% or more of the company. There is no such exception for IRAs. Because your Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) is treated as an IRA rather than a qualified plan, you must start taking RMDs after you turn 701/2 whether you are still working or not.
So, remeber: In any event, full-time workers can't postpone RMDs from an IRA.
“Our teams have been working hard throughout the fall to prepare for the upcoming tax season. The late January opening gives us enough time to get things right with our programming, testing and systems validation..."
-IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel
As part of your planning for next year, now is the time to review funding your retirement accounts. By establishing your contribution amounts at the beginning of each year, the financial impact of saving for your future should be more manageable. Here are annual contribution limits for the more popular programs:
Lost in the recent news regarding stolen identities at Snapchat and the credit and debit card theft at major retailers, is the dramatic increase in identity theft and scams using the IRS. One of the more recent scams announced by the IRS is worth noting.
