Monthly Archives: December 2014

Tax Extenders Bill Passes – With Two Weeks To Spare

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Irs Federal Income Tax Forms 1040 And Schedule DBusinesses, individuals, and CPA’s around the country got an early holiday gift today as the Senate passed a tax extenders bill the President is expected to sign into law later this week.

The extender bill is quite similar to most we’ve seen in the past – this is the 6th tax extender bill passed near (or after) the end of the year in the last decade. This one puts back into place as of 1/1/14 a large number of benefits popular among taxpayers, but only keeps them in place through 12/31/14, so this debate will come again next year, but we’re happy to have these for now.

Among the more popular items extended for 2014:

  • $500,000 Section 179 limitation with a $2 million investment cap, up from the $25,000/$500,000 that would have been
  • 50% bonus depreciation on new fixed assets in service by 12/31/14
  • The Research and Development Tax Credit
  • Exclusion from income up to $2 million of debt forgiven on a principle residence foreclosure or short sale
  • $250 deduction for out of pocket expenses for teachers
  • Option to deduct sales taxes instead of state and local income taxes
  • Deduction of certain mortgage insurance premiums
  • Deduction of up to $4,000 for higher education tuition and fees
  • Ability to transfer up to $100,000 from an IRA to a charity with no tax
  • Ability to deduct up to $250,000 of qualified leasehold improvements up front
  • 15-year life for qualified leasehold improvements

About the author

Brady is the owner of Ramsay & Associates. He specializes in financial statement preparation and personal, fiduciary and corporate tax and accounting.

His professional experience includes seven years' experience for local and national CPA firms before joining Ramsay & Associates in 2006.

He has a Bachelor of Accounting degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the Minnesota Society of CPA's, an Eagle Scout, as well as an active volunteer in the community.

Waiting on Tax Renewals – In Santa’s Bag?

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Irs Federal Income Tax Forms 1040 And Schedule DAs the end of the year approaches, we’re seeing the usual jockeying by Congress to clear their calendar of easy items before they all head home for the holiday break, and come back to a lame duck Congress and a President with nothing to lose. In all of this, the one thing missing so far is a tax extension bill.

The House and Senate had reached a compromise a few weeks back to extend the expired tax breaks in the short run, but that bill was threatened with veto by the President who thought it favored businesses and the wealthy over middle and low income Americans. The President also wanted extensions on the middle and low income tax breaks to run through 2018, an apparent attempt to keep a future Republican President and Congress from undoing what he’s done. This bill is dead.

Now, there is another bill coming out of the Republican controlled House to simply extend all of the expired items for the 2014 tax year, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated that it might not come up in the Senate, as they need to pass both a bill to fund the Federal government and a military funding bill before they can get to the tax extenders.

Either way, this will be yet another year that doesn’t see the tax code actually resolved until well after the end of the year, meaning confusion for taxpayers. Stay tuned.

About the author

Brady is the owner of Ramsay & Associates. He specializes in financial statement preparation and personal, fiduciary and corporate tax and accounting.

His professional experience includes seven years' experience for local and national CPA firms before joining Ramsay & Associates in 2006.

He has a Bachelor of Accounting degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the Minnesota Society of CPA's, an Eagle Scout, as well as an active volunteer in the community.