Lesser-known ways to reduce your 2022 tax bill or boost your refund

You do not realize income from a canceled debt to the extent the payment of the debt would have led to a deduction. This credit applies for wages paid to qualifying employees while they are on family and medical leave, subject to certain conditions. You may qualify for this credit if you continued to pay or incur wages after your business became inoperable because of damage from certain federally declared disasters.

Basically, it’s a flat-dollar, no-questions-asked tax deduction. Taking the standard deduction makes tax prep go a lot faster, which is probably a big reason why many taxpayers do it instead of itemizing. You have to be able to prove you’re actually trying to make money. They will want to see a business strategy, and plans to turn your losses into future profits. Your loss might be bigger than your income, but you can’t bring your taxable income below zero. In other words, there’s no way to claim all $80,000 in losses and force the IRS to give you a $10,000 refund.

Keep track of all expenses.

Instead, you must report these gains and losses on other forms. You can elect to exclude (up to certain limits) the cancellation of qualified real property business debt. If you make the election, you must reduce the basis of your depreciable real property by the amount excluded.

• Running a small business involves frequent contact with the IRS.
• You can generally deduct premiums you pay for the following kinds of insurance related to your business.
• You can find more information in the instructions on the back of the Form 1099-NEC you received.
• Interest received on loans is business income if you are in the business of lending money.
• All other bad debts are nonbusiness bad debts and are deductible as short-term capital losses on Form 8949 and Schedule D (Form 1040).
• Contribution limits vary by plan type, and the IRS adjusts the maximums annually.

In 2026, if you don’t file your 2022 return by the tax due date, you’ll lose your tax refund. The failure-to-pay penalty is assessed if you don’t pay taxes reported on your return by the original due date or an approved extended deadline, such as those granted for a federally declared disaster. Taxes that remain unpaid for a month (or part of a month) will be assessed a failure-to-pay penalty of 0.5% per month. The IRS has scheduled Tax Day for Tuesday, April 18, 2023 because Washington, D.C., recognizes a local holiday known as Emancipation Day on Monday, April 17, 2023. Tax-exempt and political organizations must file their taxes on April 17, 2023, but they are not small businesses. Everyone who makes money independently, from a business to a freelancer, needs to file estimated income taxes.

If it’s been a down year, consider deferring expenses and accelerating income

The adjusted basis of property is your original cost or other basis plus certain additions, and minus certain deductions such as depreciation and casualty losses. In determining gain or loss, the costs of transferring property to a new owner, such as selling expenses, are added to the adjusted basis of the property. If you dispose of business property, you may have a gain https://kelleysbookkeeping.com/ or loss that you report on your tax return. However, in some cases, you may have a gain that is not taxable or a loss that is not deductible. This chapter discusses whether you have a disposition, how to figure the gain or loss, and where to report the gain or loss. An accounting method is a set of rules used to determine when and how income and expenses are reported.

Tipped employees are individuals engaged in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. The employer may consider tips as part of wages, but the employer must pay at least $2.13 an hour in direct wages. Covered, nonexempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Special provisions apply to workers in American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Nonexempt workers must be paid overtime pay at a rate of not less than one and one-half times their regular rates of pay after 40 hours of work in a workweek. The Free File program guides taxpayers through a step-by-step process by answering simple questions.

Basic Wage Standards

You can deduct the cost of travel by airplane, train, bus, or car between your home and your business destination. For more information on retirement plans for small business, see Pub. A fringe benefit is a form of pay for the performance of services. You cannot deduct your own salary or any personal withdrawals you make from your business.

The key is to deduct only the expenses directly related to your business. For example, you could deduct the internet-related costs of running End Of Year And Beyond Small Business Tax Tips a website for your business. If your home office occupies 15% of your home, 15% of your annual electricity bill becomes tax deductible.

Create a smart plan for paying taxes

If you have employees, you must get an SSN from each of them. Record the name and SSN of each employee exactly as they are shown on the employee’s social security card. If the employee’s name is not correct as shown on the card, the employee should request a new card from the SSA. This may occur if the employee’s name was changed due to marriage or divorce. The gig (or on-demand, sharing, or access) economy refers to an area of activity where people earn income providing on-demand work, services, or goods. Go to IRS.gov/Gig to get more information about the tax consequences of participating in the gig economy.

• In certain situations, the penalties for late filing can be waived.
• Little or no difference between these two percentages shows that your gross profit figure is accurate.
• Make sure that you document and record each and every expense.
• In this situation, she would not pay any SE tax under either the regular method or the nonfarm optional method because her net earnings under both methods are less than $400.
• While bleeding money is rarely a good thing, it can come in handy during tax time.