Nonprofit Blog

Georgians awaiting a sales tax holiday for savings on school supplies, computers or software or even clothing, can begin to set their clocks, as the next holiday begins at 12:01 a.m. on July 30. It will conclude at midnight on July 31, 2016. 

If a substantial portion of your wealth is tied up in a family or closely held business, you may be concerned that your estate will lack sufficient liquid assets to pay estate taxes. In such cases, heirs may be forced to borrow funds or, in a worst-case scenario, sell the business in order to pay the tax.

With the goal of increasing protection for taxpayers, the IRS in June launched a more rigorous version of its re-authentication process - Get Transcript - that will make it harder for identity thieves to impersonate taxpayers and access tax return information.  

Summary

What to Look For

In March, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a notice providing guidance and transition relief for employers claiming the Work Opportunity Tax Credit.

Tax season is here and another round of opportunistic scammers are, too. This year, these scammers are posing as tax officials requesting that individuals answer a few questions before the IRS can process their tax returns. The IRS reports that this latest scam includes a request for personal financial information such as Social Security numbers, bank accounts and credit cards. The IRS, which has seen a 400% increase in phishing schemes this year, reminds taxpayers that the IRS will not call consumers asking for personal tax information or using threats to force a taxpayer to make an immediate payment.

The Section 199 deduction is often overlooked by business owners, perhaps because they’re not sure what it is. You may see it referred to as “the domestic production deduction,” or the “domestic production activities deduction” or “the manufacturers’ deduction.” Here are four more facts about this potentially valuable tax break:

Last July, Congress enacted legislation which changes the filing deadline for individuals with foreign bank accounts. While the “Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts” (FBAR) deadline remains June 30, 2016 for calendar year 2015, the legislation changes the standard due date to April 15 beginning with the 2016 calendar year reports due in 2017. While no extensions are currently allowed for the 2015 filing year, next year U.S. citizens and residents will be allowed to extend the FBAR filing corresponding with the extended due date of their personal tax returns to October 15.  

On February 23, 2016, Governor Nathan Deal signed House Bill 742 (the annual Internal Revenue Code update) into law. As a result, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015*, the State of Georgia has adopted the provisions of all federal acts (as they relate to the computation of Federal Adjusted Gross Income or Federal taxable income for non-individuals) that were enacted on or before January 1, 2016.