Category: Tax Planning

With the summer of 2012 coming to a close, it’s a good time to look at your tax payments you’ve made this year and see if you’re likely to accrue a tax liability for this year or not.

You should act soon to adjust yor tax withholding to bring the taxes you must pay closer to what you actually owe. If you’re ahead of schedule in terms of payments for the year, then you can reduce your withholding and actually keep more of your paycheck for the rest of the year.

Most people have taxes withheld from each paycheck or pay taxes on a quarterly basis through estimated tax payments. Each year millions of American workers have far more taxes withheld from their pay than is required. Many people anxiously wait for their tax refunds to make major purchases or pay their financial obligations. It is best, however, to not tie major financial decisions to your anticipated refund — especially if you owe back taxes for previous years, because the IRS is simply going to keep that refund, even if you filed an Offer in Compromise this year.

Here is some information to help bring the taxes you pay during the year closer to what you will actually owe when you file your tax return.

Employees

New Job? When you start a new job your employer will ask you to complete Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate. Your employer will use this form to figure the amount of federal income tax to withhold from your paychecks. Be sure to complete the Form W-4 accurately.

Life Event? You may want to change your Form W-4 when certain life events happen to you during the year. Examples of events in your life that can change the amount of taxes you owe include a change in your marital status, the birth of a child, getting or losing a job, and purchasing a home. Keep your Form W-4 up-to-date.

You typically can submit a new Form W–4 at anytime you wish to change the number of your withholding allowances. However, if your life event results in the need to decrease your withholding allowances or changes your marital status from married to single, you must give your employer a new Form W-4 within 10 days of that life event.

If you need help determining how many exemptions to claim on your new W-4, feel free to get in touch … Continue reading

Last month while I was in Switzerland, I had the “opportunity” of visiting the US Embassy in Bern so that I could obtain a replacement for my stolen U.S. passport.

While I was there, I met several interesting people. One was attempting to obtain a U.S. Social Security Number so that she could file the U.S. income tax returns that the IRS was demanding that she file, since she was born in America, although technically German and Swiss. She had never been to the U.S. since she was 5 years old, and was now in her 50’s and the IRS wanted her returns.

Another lady was there to renounce her U.S. citizenship, under very similar circumstances. She had also been born on U.S. soil, technically making her a U.S. citizen. She had no family or other ties to the U.S., and not visited the U.S. since her teens, but had dutifully filed a U.S. tax return for the past dozen years. She was in her mid-30’s, had no intention of ever living in the U.S., and was very happily Swiss. She was renouncing her U.S. citizenship and turning in her U.S. passport for no other reason than to get away from the hassle of filing a U.S. tax return.

For those two individuals, it made absolutely no sense for them to being filing an American tax return.

But what if you do live in America, or intend to keep your U.S. citizenship, but spend time overseas? If you have overseas assets, especially banking and investment accounts, the IRS has you right in their crosshairs, and they are increasing the pressure.

The recently enacted Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act is the latest in a series of measures by the U.S. government to track down overseas assets and make sure that they are getting their cut. This legislation created a new form for us all to fill out, Form 8938, for certain overseas accounts. This is on top of the old Form TD F 90-22.1 Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).

Now keep in mind, there is absolutely nothing wrong, immoral, or illegal about having overseas assets or investments. Holding overseas assets can be a perfectly valid component of your financial planning strategy.

But what the IRS doesn’t like is when you are earning returns on that money, and not paying U.S. income tax on it. You see, America is one of the few countries … Continue reading