The IRS does not send taxpayers unsolicited e-mails about their tax
accounts, tax situations, or personal tax issues. If you receive such
an e-mail, most likely it's a scam.
IRS impersonation schemes flourish during filing season. These schemes
may take place via phone, fax, Internet sites, social networking
sites, and particularly e-mail.
Many impersonations are identity theft scams that try to trick victims
into revealing personal and financial information that can be used to
access their financial accounts. Some e-mail scams contain attachments
or links that, when clicked, download malicious code (a virus) that
infects your computer or directs you to a bogus form or site posing as
an IRS form or Web site.
Some impersonations may be commercial Internet sites that consumers
unknowingly visit, thinking they're accessing the genuine IRS Web
site, IRS.gov. However, such sites have no connection to the IRS.
As with any situation like this, don't open any emails or attachments
from a source you are not familiar with.
If you want to know whether a site is legitimate or if you think you
have been the victim of identity theft or fraud, please contact us. We
definitely don't want you to get scammed.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
Tips for Turning Your Vacation Into a Tax Deduction
1. Make all your business appointments before you leave for your trip.
Most people believe that they can go on vacation and simply hand out their business cards in order to make the trip deductible. Wrong.
You must have at least one business appointment before you leave in order to establish the "prior set business purpose" required by the IRS. Keeping this in mind, before he left for his trip, Tim set up appointments with business colleagues in the various cities that he planned to visit.
2. Make Sure your Trip is All "Business Travel."
In order to deduct all of your on-the-road business expenses, you must be traveling on business. The IRS states that travel expenses are 100% deductible as long as your trip is business related and you are traveling away from your regular place of business longer than an ordinary day's work and you need to sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away from home.
3. Make sure that you deduct all of your on-the-road -expenses for each day you're away.
For every day you are on business travel, you can deduct 100% of lodging, tips, car rentals, and 50% of your food. Tip:The IRS doesn't require receipts for travel expense under $75 per expense--except for lodging.
4. Sandwich weekends between business days.
If you have a business day on Friday and another one on Monday, you can deduct all on-the-road expenses during the weekend.
5. Make the majority of your trip days business days.
The IRS says that you can deduct transportation expenses if business is the primary purpose of the trip. A majority of days in the trip must be for business activities, otherwise, you cannot make any transportation deductions.
Consult us before you plan your next trip. We'll show you the right way to legally deduct your vacation when you combine it with business. Bon Voyage!
Most people believe that they can go on vacation and simply hand out their business cards in order to make the trip deductible. Wrong.
You must have at least one business appointment before you leave in order to establish the "prior set business purpose" required by the IRS. Keeping this in mind, before he left for his trip, Tim set up appointments with business colleagues in the various cities that he planned to visit.
2. Make Sure your Trip is All "Business Travel."
In order to deduct all of your on-the-road business expenses, you must be traveling on business. The IRS states that travel expenses are 100% deductible as long as your trip is business related and you are traveling away from your regular place of business longer than an ordinary day's work and you need to sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away from home.
3. Make sure that you deduct all of your on-the-road -expenses for each day you're away.
For every day you are on business travel, you can deduct 100% of lodging, tips, car rentals, and 50% of your food. Tip:The IRS doesn't require receipts for travel expense under $75 per expense--except for lodging.
4. Sandwich weekends between business days.
If you have a business day on Friday and another one on Monday, you can deduct all on-the-road expenses during the weekend.
5. Make the majority of your trip days business days.
The IRS says that you can deduct transportation expenses if business is the primary purpose of the trip. A majority of days in the trip must be for business activities, otherwise, you cannot make any transportation deductions.
Consult us before you plan your next trip. We'll show you the right way to legally deduct your vacation when you combine it with business. Bon Voyage!