While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) reduces most income tax rates and expands some tax breaks, it limits or eliminates several itemized deductions that have been valuable to many individual taxpayers.
Here are five deductions you may see shrink or disappear when you file your 2018 income tax return: Continue Reading Your Deductions May be Smaller When You File Your 2018 Tax Return
Jen: This is the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook. I’m Jen Lemanski, and I’m back again with Frank Landreneau, one of our International Tax Directors. Frank, welcome back to The Playbook.
Frank: Thanks, Jen. It’s great to be back.
Jen: I know there’s an incentive for exporters: IC-DISC. How has that changed with tax reform?
Frank: That’s a good question. It’s been around for quite a while, as you know, the IC-DISC is nothing new. What propelled its novelty is the tax reform of 2003 where dividend rates were now coupled with capital gains rates. There’s been legislation on and off of repealing it or modifying it or limiting it in some kind of way, but oddly enough, tax reform did not change anything with regard to IC-DISC, so it’s still a viable option for exporters.
Jen: So Frank, how can the IC-DISC be helpful for our viewers?
Restricted gifts — or donations with conditions attached — can be difficult for not-for-profits to manage. Unlike unrestricted gifts, these donations can’t be poured into your general operating fund and be used where they’re most needed. Instead, restricted gifts generally are designated to fund a specific program or initiative, such as a building or scholarship fund.
It’s not only unethical, but dangerous, not to comply with a donor’s restrictions. If donors learn you’ve ignored their wishes, they can demand the money back and sue your organization. And your reputation will almost certainly take a hit. Rather than take that risk, try to encourage your donors to give with no strings attached.
Continue Reading How to Persuade Donors to Remove “Restricted” from Gifts
When you file your 2018 income tax return, you’ll likely find that some big tax law changes affect you — besides the much-discussed tax rate cuts and reduced itemized deductions. For 2018 through 2025, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) makes significant changes to personal exemptions, standard deductions and the child credit.
The degree to which these changes will affect you depends on whether you have dependents and, if so, how many. It also depends on whether you typically itemize deductions.
Continue Reading These 3 TCJA Changes Affect Your 2018 Individual Tax Returns and More
Jen: This is the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook. I’m Jen Lemanski, and I’m back again with Kimberly Wood, an Audit Senior Manager and one of the faces of the PKF Texas Transaction Advisory Services Team. Kimberly, welcome back to The Playbook.
Kimberly: Thanks for having me.
Jen: Last time you gave us an overview of the due diligence process. What are some ways to facilitate due diligence?
Kimberly: There are five key ways that the buyer can help facilitate this process:
Jen: Perfect. So now, does this apply to both buy side and sell side?
Kimberly: These are things that the sell side will want to do to get ready for the buyer.
Jen: Perfect. We will get you to talk a little bit more about some due diligence topics soon.
Kimberly: Sounds great.
Jen: For more information about due diligence, visit PKFTexas.com/TransactionAdvisoryServices. This has been another Thought Leader Production brought to you by PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook. Tune in next week for another chapter.
The results are in! The report of the third annual National Manufacturing Outlook and Insights Survey with Leading Edge Alliance (LEA Global) has been published and released.
The survey was conducted in association with leading accounting firms across the country, and the report benefits our clients as part of our ongoing efforts to help co-develop the client experience with us as trusted advisors.
Over 350 manufacturers participated in this year’s survey, providing their expectations, predictions and opinions for 2019. Located in over 20 states and Canada, the participants produce a wide variety of product, including machine/industrial, automotive/transportation, food and beverage, textiles, construction and more.
Results from the survey include:
For the full report, visit www.PKFTexas.com/Manufacturing.
It was a full house at the PKF Texas office for the first official seminar of the year! We partnered with the Houston chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI) for this joint seminar.
Titled, “What’s Happening in the State of Capital Flow?,” the seminar hosted a panel of three speakers, moderated by PKF Texas Audit Director, Chip Schweiger, CPA, CGMA. Chip filled the hour with a compelling discussion between:
Every speaker offered their expertise and insight to the CFOs, controllers and other financial executives in the room about what’s going on in the public markets and the outlook for 2019. Topics discussed included non-traditional sources of capital, the exit environment when looking to IPO, impact of regulations on capital markets, the nature of buyers today, technology, cyber security and more.
For more information and to stay updated with future events, visit our website and subscribe: www.PKFTexas.com.
Signs of financial distress in a not-for-profit can be subtle. But board members have a responsibility to recognize them and do everything in their power to avert potential disaster.
Pay particular attention to: Continue Reading Is Your Not-for-Profit in Financial Danger?
The IRS opened the 2018 income tax return filing season on January 28. Even if you typically don’t file until much closer to the April 15 deadline, this year you should consider filing as soon as you can. Why? You can potentially protect yourself from tax identity theft — and reap other benefits, too.
What is tax identity theft?
In a tax identity theft scheme, a thief uses your personal information to file a fraudulent tax return early in the filing season and claim a bogus refund.
You discover the fraud when you file your return and are informed by the IRS that the return has been rejected because one with your Social Security number has already been filed for the same tax year. While you should ultimately be able to prove that your return is the legitimate one, tax identity theft can cause major headaches to straighten out and significantly delay your refund.
Filing early may be your best defense: If you file first, it will be the tax return filed by a would-be thief that will be rejected — not yours.
Continue Reading File Your 2018 Income Tax Return Sooner Rather Than Later…
Jen: This is the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook. I’m Jen Lemanski, and I’m here today with Kimberly Wood, an Audit Senior Manager and one of the faces of our PKF Texas Transaction Advisory Services team. Kimberly, welcome to The Playbook.
Kimberly: Thanks for having me.
Jen: You’re on our Transaction Advisory Services team, and I know you tend to handle due diligence. What is due diligence and why should somebody do a due diligence project?
Kimberly: Due diligence is an investigation of a company or a business, and basically, we are validating the information or assumptions that haven’t been provided, or that should have been provided. It’s an essential information gathering process, whether it’s for legal, operational or financial due diligence. Continue Reading What is Due Diligence and What are the Benefits?