The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 permanently extends the tax-favored business expensing provision at $500,000 with a $2 MM investment limit before the phaseout. Beginning in 2016, these amounts will be indexed for inflation. The Act also made permanent the 15-year depreciation for qualified leasehold improvements and removes the $250,000 cap beginning… …Continue Reading
SBA Learning Center
The Small Business Administration (SBA) features a virtual campus of free training courses and workshops on their website at https://www.sba.gov. Courses include Growing an Established Company, How to Prepare a Loan Package and Marketing 101. The featured courses now, of the sixty courses available on their website, are Taking Your High-Tech Product to Market, Understanding… …Continue Reading
Employee or Independent Contractor
The IRS is still very focused on worker misclassification, going after employers for back payroll tax and penalties, reports the Kiplinger Washington Editors in their June 19, 2015 Tax Letter. The IRS has twenty factors they consider to determine if an employer-employee relationship exists. They use behavioral, financial and the type-of-relationship tests to conclude whether… …Continue Reading
Illinois Small Business Job Creation Tax Credit
The Illinois Small Business Job Creation Tax Credit gives small business owners a boost by giving them a $2,500 credit towards their Illinois withholding tax payments. After creating one or more new, full-time positions that meet the eligibility requirements, small businesses can register here to receive a $2,500 per job tax credit. Jobs created between… …Continue Reading
Welcome to our new website and our blog post!
We are very excited to introduce you to our new website that provides lots of resources for you, the business owner. Via our blog, we will share valuable business tips and information. Our Latest News feature will keep you informed of changes in the tax law and other items of interest in the business world…. …Continue Reading
IRS RELIEF FROM ACCOUNTING METHOD CHANGES
CCH is reporting that the Internal Revenue Service has issued Revenue Procedure 2015-20 which provides relief to qualifying taxpayers from the requirement to file a change in accounting method to comply with the finalized repair regulations (regs). The regs on the deduction or capitalization of tangible property costs generally apply to tax years beginning on… …Continue Reading
ILLINOIS MINIMUM WAGE
New employees, during their first 90 days of employment, may be paid up to 50 cents less per hour. Tipped employees may be paid 60% of the hourly minimum wage. Certain employees must be paid overtime, at time and one-half of the regular rate, after 40 hours of work in a workweek. For adults, ages… …Continue Reading
January 31 Illinois DOL Reporting Deadline for Contractors
Any contractor who has construction services performed for it by an individual, sole proprietorship or partnership that is not an employee of the contractor must file a report by January 31, 2015 with the Department of Labor. The report must include the following information: contractors name, address, business identification number; the name, address and… …Continue Reading
2015 Standard Mileage Rates
The IRS has announced the standard mileage rates (SMR) for 2015. The business SMR has increased to $0.575. The SMR for moving and medical has decreased to $0.23 per mile. The SMR for driving an auto for charitable purposes is $0.14 per mile. The charitable rate is a statutory rate that is not adjusted for… …Continue Reading
Employer-Provided Transit and Vanpooling Benefits
The Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 (TIPA) has retroactively extended the exclusion for employer-provided transit and vanpooling benefits under Code Sec. 132 with an increase in the monthly amount from $130 to $250. TIPA created parity between these benefits and employer-provided parking benefits; the exclusion limitation is also $250 per month.
