TaxEsqBlog -by Ronald J. Cappuccio, J.D., LL.M.(Tax)

State Department denying passports! Under President Obama's urging, Congress in 2015 passed a nefarious law denying passports to taxpayers owing $50,000 or more To the IRS.  The State Department is now issuing letters denying passports to individuals owing taxes. If you owe taxes to the IRS you need to immediately contact a tax attorney to fight the issue to prevent losing your existing passport were being denied a passport renewal! Here is a letter issued this week from the State Department:

Businesses aren’t immune to tax identity theft Tax identity theft may seem like a problem only for individual taxpayers. But, according to the IRS, increasingly businesses are also becoming victims. And identity thieves have become more sophisticated, knowing filing practices, the tax code and the best ways to get valuable data. How it works In tax identity theft, a taxpayer’s identifying information (such as Social Security number) is used to fraudulently obtain a refund or commit other crimes.  Business  tax identity theft occurs when a criminal uses the identifying information of a business to obtain tax benefits or to enable individual tax identity theft schemes. For example, a thief could use an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to file a fraudulent business tax return and claim a refund. Or a fraudster may report income and withholding for fake employees on false W-2 forms. Then, he or she can file fraudulent individual tax returns for these “employees” to clai

Be sure your employee travel expense reimbursements will pass muster with the IRS Does your business reimburse employees’ work-related travel expenses? If you do, you know that it can help you attract and retain employees. If you don’t, you might want to start, because changes under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) make such reimbursements even more attractive to employees. Travel reimbursements also come with tax benefits, but only if you follow a method that passes muster with the IRS. The TCJA’s impact Before the TCJA , unreimbursed work-related travel expenses generally were deductible on an employee’s individual tax return (subject to a 50% limit for meals and entertainment) as a miscellaneous itemized deduction. However, many employees weren’t able to benefit from the deduction because either they didn’t itemize deductions or they didn’t have enough miscellaneous itemized expenses to exceed the 2% of adjusted gross income (AGI) floor that applied. For 2018 through

2018 Q4 tax calendar: Key deadlines for businesses and other employers Here are some of the key tax-related deadlines affecting businesses and other employers during the fourth quarter of 2018. Keep in mind that this list isn’t all-inclusive, so there may be additional deadlines that apply to you. Contact us to ensure you’re meeting all applicable deadlines and to learn more about the filing requirements. October 15 If a calendar-year C corporation that filed an automatic six-month extension: File a 2017 income tax return (Form 1120) and pay any tax, interest and penalties due. Make contributions for 2017 to certain employer-sponsored retirement plans. October 31 Report income tax withholding and FICA taxes for third quarter 2018 (Form 941) and pay any tax due. (See exception below under “November 13.”) November 13 Report income tax withholding and FICA taxes for third quarter 2018 (Form 941), if you deposited on time and in full all of the associated taxes due.