IRS Kicks Off 2019 Tax-Filing Season

IR-2019-07, January 28, 2019 WASHINGTON ― The Internal Revenue Service successfully opened the 2019 tax-filing season today as the agency started accepting and processing federal tax returns for tax year 2018. Despite the major tax law changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the IRS was able to open this year’s tax-filing season…

Standard Mileage Rate to Increase in 2019

The Internal Revenue Service has announced that the optional standard mileage rate used to calculate the costs of operating a car, van, pickup truck, or panel truck for business purposes in 2019 will be 58 cents per mile, up from 54.5 cents per mile in 2018. The 2019 rates for automobiles used for charitable, medical,…

How TIGTA stymied an IRS impersonation scam

New technologies aided a massive phone scam, but investigators turned the tables on the scheme, which allegedly caused ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ in taxpayer losses. On Nov. 24, 2014, a woman named Diana received a menacing phone call in Hernando, Miss., a small city nestled in the northwest corner of the state. A caller…

Clarification for business taxpayers: Payments under state or local tax credit programs may be deductible as business expenses

IR-2018-178, Sept. 5, 2018 WASHINGTON — Business taxpayers who make business-related payments to charities or government entities for which the taxpayers receive state or local tax credits can generally deduct the payments as business expenses, the Internal Revenue Service said today. Responding to taxpayer inquiries, the IRS clarified that this general deductibility rule is unaffected…

Virginia Tax Credits

Making the most of available tax credits is a key component in any plan for minimizing tax liabilities.  Remember, tax credits are much more valuable than deductions because they reduce the amount of tax owed on a dollar-for-dollar basis.  Did you know that Virginia has numerous tax credits in place to help their residents and…