At McCullough and Associates, LLC, we guide our clients through a full range of tax planning and preparation decisions with strategies that minimize your tax liabilities, maximize your cash flow and keep you on track to your financial goals. Our expertise, experience, analysis and thorough research allow us to optimize financial opportunities to be found in existing as well as recently altered tax laws. We are knowledgeable and up to date on the tax laws and can make sense of your receipts, bills and notices.
Charitable Giving
The Act also increases the limitation on charitable contribution deductions for the 2020 tax year. For corporations, the 10% of taxable income limitation is increased to 25%. For individuals, the 15% limitation is increased to 25%.
Estate Taxes
IRS Representation
Professional representation can be vital during an audit, and our experience with tax authorities enables us to guide clients in their dealings with federal and state agencies. If you have been chosen for an audit, the professional representation you can find with our firm can put many of your worries at bay. We are ready and willing to answer any and all questions the IRS may be asking of you.
Tax Services
Terry has more than 40 years of accounting experience, with an emphasis in taxation. He specializes in business management, tax advising, cashflow planning, financial projections, and small and medium-sized business successions. Terry has experience in providing tax services to transportation, banking, wholesale and retail distribution, service businesses, construction and land development, and a variety of others.
Roth IRA
Age Rules. You must be under age 70½ at the end of the tax year in order to contribute to a traditional IRA. There is no age limit to contribute to a Roth IRA.
Real Estate Taxes
But the rules are different if you rent out your vacation home for 15 or more days annually. First, the rental income must be reported. Second, in this scenario, the IRS considers your vacation home to be an investment property and, thus, allows deductions related to the rental of the property, with certain limitations. In addition to mortgage interest and real estate taxes, these deductions generally include insurance, utilities, housekeeping, repairs and depreciation. Also, the deduction for certain categories of expenses cannot exceed the rental income.
Form 1065
A partnership must file an information return, which is IRS Form 1065, “U.S. Return of Partnership Income.†On this form, the partnership separately identifies income, deductions, credits and other items. This is so partners can properly treat items that are subject to limits or other rules that could affect their treatment at the partner level.
Tax Deductions
The IRS reminds taxpayers that specific rules apply for taking a tax deduction for donating cars to charities. If the claimed value of the donated motor vehicle, boat or plane exceeds $500, you can deduct the smaller of the vehicle's FMV on the date of the contribution or the gross proceeds received from the sale of the vehicle.
Income Tax
On Friday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that the deadline to file your 2019 federal income tax return has been moved from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020. Taxpayers can also defer federal income tax payments due on April 15, 2020 (including first quarter 2020 estimated federal income tax payments), to July 15, 2020, without penalties and interest, regardless of the amount owed.
Tax Deferral
In addition to potentially receiving the SSI Tax Credit, the CARES Act allows employers to defer the payment of the employer’s share of the 6.2% Social Security tax on wages paid beginning on March 27, 2020 and ending on December 31, 2020. A corresponding deferral is also permitted for the equivalent portion of self-employment taxes.
Capital Gains Taxes
Tax Return Preparation
Available in most communities are Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites to help with tax return preparation. People volunteer their time to help their neighbors. The service is free to those with limited or moderate income people, non-English speaking, the elderly and the disabled. Some VITA sites even offer free electronic filing. If you want to know more about a VITA site in your community or volunteering your time, call the IRS at 1-800-906-9887. Check out IRS e-file.
While it's important to keep year-end mutual fund and IRA contribution statements forever, you don't have to save monthly and quarterly statements once the year-end statement has arrived.
Bonds
Money Market Funds
An individual retirement arrangement that allows a wider choice of investments than an IRA, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds and money market funds.
The function of compiling and providing financial information primarily by reports referred to as financial statements. Accounting includes bookkeeping, systems design, analysis and interpretation of accounting information.
Payroll Services
McCullough and Associates, LLC's payroll services can help you reduce the time spent on administration through developing and implementing a computerized payroll system that will facilitate processing, timely payment and preparation of tax returns.
We pride ourselves on staying up-to-date with the latest accounting and financial planning information available, including changes in regulation, new resources that can be used, and innovative ways of planning and implementing financial goals.
Retirement Planning
A person who participates in a qualified pension, stock bonus, or profit-sharing plan, a qualified annuity plan, a tax-sheltered annuity (TSA) plan, a simplified employee pension plan, or a local, state, county, or federal retirement plan has active-participant status, as does his or her spouse.
Annuities
A long-term contract sold by life insurance companies that guarantees fixed or variable payments to the purchaser at regular intervals. Payments are usually scheduled to begin at a future time, such as retirement. Some annuities provide tax-deferred earnings, often as part of retirement plans.
Long Term Care
The costs of qualified long-term care (LTC), such as nursing home care, may be deductible as medical expenses to the extent they, along with other qualified expenses, exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income (AGI). But keep in mind that the medical expense deduction is an itemized deduction. And itemizing deductions saves taxes only if total itemized deductions exceed the applicable standard deduction.
Asset Management
A process that divides investments among different asset classes, such as stocks, bonds, and cash, in order to reduce portfolio risk.
Living Trusts
* Will and Trust Audit - When was the last time you updated your Will and/or your Living Trust? Has it been updated for the current ages of your children? Your grandchildren? Have your parents done this?
College Funding
Many parents today suffer from sticker shock when they learn what it costs to send their children to college. While the cost of college can be a hard pill to swallow for parents of college-bound teens, now is the time for parents to get familiar with a 529 College Savings Plan. The commonly used college savings plan has offered parents, and their college-bound kid(s), tax-free withdrawals to pay for college.
Reverse Mortgages
A loan used to turn home equity into tax-free cash payments to the homeowner, or borrower, usually to fund retirement needs.