Blog | WM. F. Horne & Company, PLLC

Article Highlights:

• Your federal tax refund status can be checked online.
• E-file refunds are generally issued within 21 days of filing.
• Direct deposit provides the quickest refunds.

If your 2018 federal return has already been filed and you are due a refund, you can check the status of your refund online.

“Where’s My Refund?” is an interactive tool on the IRS website at…

Article Highlights:

• Pre-Tax Reform Home Mortgage Interest Deduction
  • Home Acquisition Debt
  • Home Equity Debt

• Tax Reform Mortgage Interest Deduction Changes
  • Home Acquisition Debt
  • Home Equity Debt

• Tracing Equity Debt
• Refinancing
• Property Taxes

As part of the recent tax reform, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the deduction for home mortgage interest and property taxes has undergone substantial alterations. These changes will impact most homeowners who itemize their deductions each year.

Mortgage Interest

Prior to the tax reform, a taxpayer…

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• Annual Mileage
• Optional (Standard) Mileage Method
• Actual-Expense Method
• Vehicle Depreciation
• Luxury-Vehicle Limits
• SUVs
• Interest Expenses
• Business-Vehicle Sales or Trade-ins
• Employees
• Plug-in Electric Vehicle Credits

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2018 and other tax reforms have brought about significant changes in the way that vehicle use is deducted for business purposes. Before getting into these changes, it is appropriate to first provide a review of the two methods for deducting the use of a business vehicle.

It…

You know the old line about the inevitability of death and taxes? It’s still true. What isn’t inevitable, however, is the need to pay penalties to the IRS. It happens, but it doesn’t have to, and the main reason that it does is because taxpayers don’t educate themselves about the rules. When you get hit with an IRS penalty, it adds on to a number that you already wish you didn’t…

Article Highlights:

• Home never rented
• Home rented for fewer than 15 days
• Home rented for at least 15 days with minor personal use
• Home rented for at least 15 days with major personal use
• Vacation home sales

If you have a second home in a resort area, or if you have been considering acquiring a second home or vacation home, you may have questions about how rental income is taxed for a part-time vacation-home rental….

Entrepreneurs often shrug off the idea of obtaining an employer identification number, or EIN, believing that their small business really doesn’t need one. Though there are some cases where a solo business can get away with merely utilizing the business owner’s Social Security Number, doing so is not necessarily the best idea, even if you don’t…

February 2019 Individual Due Dates

February 11 – Report Tips to Employer

If you are an employee who works for tips and received more than $20 in tips during January, you are required to report them to your employer on IRS Form 4070 no later than February 11.

Your employer is required to withhold FICA taxes and income tax withholding for these tips from your regular wages. If your regular wages are insufficient…

Article Highlights:

• Tax Reform
• Prepayments
• W-4
• Safe Harbor Payments
• Penalty Waivers & Exceptions
• Mitigating the Penalty

Taxpayers are required to pre-pay their taxes for any tax year through payroll withholding, estimated tax payments or a combination of the two. Employees and retirees generally accomplish this through withholding, and self-employed individuals and those with investment income by paying quarterly estimated payments.

The late-2017 passage of tax reform that became effective for 2018 and its radical changes added considerable confusion…

Article Highlights:

• 199A 20% Pass-Through Deduction
• Rental Safe Harbor Qualifications
• Books & Records
• 250 Hours
• Contemporaneous Record
• Triple Net Leases
• Vacation Home Rentals
• Double-Edged Sword

Ever since tax reform was passed, over a year ago, taxpayers have been uncertain whether rental property will be classified as a trade or business for purposes of qualifying for the new IRC Sec 199A 20% pass-through deduction (commonly referred to as the 199A deduction).

Finally, on January 18, 2019, the IRS issued a…

Article Highlights:

• W-4 Complications
• Working Spouse
• Adjusting Refund
• Other Income and Tax Issues

As they do at the beginning of every year, employers will be requesting employees to complete the IRS Form W-4. Its purpose is to provide employers with the information they need to determine the amount of federal income taxes to withhold from an employee’s paycheck. So, it is very important that the form be completed correctly.

The problem is that as simple as…