Blogging Beyond the Numbers

The Wisconsin Legislature recently passed a sales tax holiday for August 2018. What does this mean for the general consumer? A sales and use tax exemption is created for sales of certain items during a five-day period in August 2018. The temporary exemption period, referred to as a sales tax holiday, will begin at 12:01 AM on August 1, 2018, and continue through 11:59 PM on Sunday, August 5, 201...

In May 2014, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606). Since then, there have also been several amendments to the ASU that provide clarification to the original guidance. The update will be effective for all nonpublic entities for reporting periods beginning January 1, 2019.  The core principle is that an entity should recognize revenue ba...

You may have breathed a sigh of relief after filing your 2017 income tax return (or requesting an extension). But if your office is strewn with reams of paper consisting of years’ worth of tax returns, receipts, canceled checks and other financial records (or your computer desktop is filled with a multitude of digital tax-related files), you probably want to get rid of what you can. Follow these re...

Here are some of the key tax-related deadlines affecting businesses and other employers during the second quarter of 2018. Keep in mind that this list isn’t all-inclusive, so there may be additional deadlines that apply to you. Contact us to ensure you’re meeting all applicable deadlines and to learn more about the filing requirements. April 2 Electronically file 2017 Form 1096, Form 1098, Form 10...

If you purchased qualifying property by December 31, 2017, you may be able to take advantage of Section 179 expensing on your 2017 tax return. You’ll also want to keep this tax break in mind in your property purchase planning, because the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), signed into law this past December, significantly enhances it beginning in 2018. 2017 Sec. 179 benefits Sec. 179 expensing allows eligibl...

If you moved for work-related reasons in 2017, you might be able to deduct some of the costs on your 2017 return — even if you don’t itemize deductions. (Or, if your employer reimbursed you for moving expenses, that reimbursement might be excludable from your income.) The bad news is that, if you move in 2018, the costs likely won’t be deductible, and any employer reimbursements will probably be inclu...

The 2017 Wisconsin Tax Act 59 gave all Wisconsin commercial businesses some property tax relief. There’s been some questions around the changes so let’s dive right in. The exemptions in this bill are effective with the property tax assessments as of January 1, 2018.  All commercial and manufacturing taxpayers with property in the state must self-report taxable personal property with the assessor by M...

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law on December 22, 2017, and it offers substantial changes in the U.S. tax law for both businesses and individuals.  Provisions for C-Corporations are generally permanent in nature, whereas provisions for individuals, estates, and pass-through entities (e.g. partnerships and S-Corporations) typically “sunset” after 2025. There are several changes to t...

Tax credits reduce tax liability dollar-for-dollar, potentially making them more valuable than deductions, which reduce only the amount of income subject to tax. Maximizing available credits is especially important now that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has reduced or eliminated some tax breaks for businesses. Two still-available tax credits are especially for small businesses that provide certain empl...

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) enhances some tax breaks for businesses while reducing or eliminating others. One break it enhances — temporarily — is bonus depreciation. While most TCJA provisions go into effect for the 2018 tax year, you might be able to benefit from the bonus depreciation enhancements when you file your 2017 tax return. Pre-TCJA bonus depreciation Under pre-TCJA law, for qualified...