Wondering what your options are to reduce spending and increase income? Here are some tips: Organizing your finances is the foundation for financial success. Receipts scattered? Can’t keep up with payments that are due? Missed payments result in late fees and interest charges, and all those do are increase the overall amount to be paid […]
According to the Small Business Administration, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund will provide restaurants with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location. Recipients are not required to repay the funding as long as funds are used for eligible uses no later […]
Small and midsize employers, and certain governmental employers, can claim refundable tax credits that reimburse them for the cost of providing paid sick and family leave to their employees due to COVID-19, including leave taken by employees to receive or recover from COVID-19 vaccinations. These credits are available to eligible employers that pay sick and […]
Even before the pandemic, the Small Business Administration offered Economic Injury Disaster Loans for “losses not covered by insurance or funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for both personal and business” expenses and for “business operating expenses that could have been met had the disaster not occurred.” The SBA has also been offering […]
You may have heard credit shelter trusts called by their other monikers: bypass, family or exemption trusts. Assets placed in a CST are generally held apart from the estate of the surviving spouse — they pass tax-free to the remaining beneficiaries at the death of the surviving spouse. But the CST can benefit the surviving […]
Legislation signed in March allows taxpayers who earned less than $150,000 in modified adjusted gross income to exclude unemployment compensation up to $20,400 if married filing jointly and $10,200 for all other eligible taxpayers. The legislation excludes only 2020 unemployment benefits from taxes. Because the change occurred after some people filed their taxes, the IRS […]
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) included a provision for a federally-financed Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) subsidy from April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021. The subsidy is available to qualifying employees who involuntarily lost their jobs or had significantly reduced hours. This applies to: Individuals who were previously eligible for […]
The Internal Revenue Service is reminding taxpayers about the rules for required minimum distributions (RMDs) from retirement accounts. Previous rules stated that a retirement plan account owner must begin taking an RMD annually starting the year he or she reaches 70 ½ or 72, depending on the birthdate and retirement year of the plan owner. Retirement […]
The filing date for the federal income tax has been postponed until May 17. The IRS has announced that individual taxpayers can also postpone federal income tax payments for the 2020 tax year due on April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021, without penalties and interest, regardless of the amount owed. This postponement applies to […]
An ESOP is an employee benefit plan that’s similar to profit sharing. In an ESOP, a company sets up a trust fund, contributing new shares of its own stock or cash to buy existing shares. Companies use ESOPs for many purposes: To provide a market for departing owners of closely held companies. To motivate and […]