Waterfront Tax & Accounting Blog

If your income varies from year to year – for instance, if you change jobs often or get a significant part of your income from the gig economy – tax planning can get complicated. Certain activities that increase your tax bill during higher-income years might have little impact during lower-income...

The IRS offers two important tax credits for higher education expenses: the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) and the Lifetime Learning Credit (LLC). You may claim both credits on the same tax return, but not for the same person. For example, you might claim the AOTC for your college-age dep...

IRS limits for individual contributions to employer-sponsored retirement plans are increasing in 2020. If you are an employee who participates in 401(k), 403(b), the Thrift Savings Plan for civil and uniformed service members, or most types of 457 plans, you may contribute up to $19,500 in 2020, ...

If you use or hold cryptocurrency, also called virtual currency, you need to exercise special care. Challenges arise from the fact that the IRS classifies all virtual currencies as property, not as currency in the usual sense. As a result, any transaction involving cryptocurrency might involve a ...

Con artists continue to come up with new ways to impersonate the IRS and scam taxpayers out or their money and/or private information. Recently, the IRS issued a warning about a new scam in which callers use intimidation tactics to extort money from taxpayers. The scammer claims that the call rec...

The IRS recently raised the per diem rates for employee travel expenses, effective October 1, 2019. Within the Continental U.S., the new basic daily rates are $297 for high-cost regions (of which $71 is allotted for meals), and $200 for low-cost areas (with $60 for meals). The "incidentals only" ...

I am excited to announce the change to a new name for my business and business website. I changed the company name to “Waterfront Tax & Accounting”. The purpose is to reflect the changes that have been made to increase our capabilities through adding staff (tax preparers and bookkeepers), providi...

Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers are used for taxpayers who are required for U.S. tax purposes to have a U.S. taxpayer identification number but do not qualify to get a social security number. If you use an ITIN, you should check if it expires this year. If it does, information about ho...

If you have a dependent who does not meet the criteria for the Child Tax Credit (CTC), you may still qualify for a $500 credit called the Other Dependent Credit. Also called the Family Tax Credit, this nonrefundable credit was created under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017. Examples of qu...

If you plan to claim a deduction for Expenses for Business Use of Your Home (home office expense) on your tax return, you need a reliable method to calculate your deductible utility costs. IRS rules require that you separate utility expenses that apply to only the residential portions of your hom...