by Silkin Management Group on February 1, 2012
Silkin Management Group’s blog posted on January 31st discussed some new incentives that the Obama Administration is proposing to help small businesses start up and expand. Some of these incentives are tax related and cover some issues we’ve discussed in this multi-part series covering tax issues to be aware of in 2012. Articles from this series can be found on several Silkin Management Group blog sites including this one.
Our earlier articles have covered the following points: a) increased tax audits and b) some potential tax consequences of the federal health care legislation that will be ruled on by the Supreme Court this year, c) extensions of some favorable tax rules, d) federal, state and local governments on the look-out for new sources of revenue, e) the potential effects of the Presidential race and election, f) potential increases in unemployment taxes and g) possible changes in estate taxes.
Here is another issue that any tax payer should be aware of:
• The impact of low interest rates: As we all know, interest rates are the lowest they’ve been in decades and, according to Ben Bernake at the Federal Reserve, they will remain low for at least several more years. While this doesn’t provide much incentive for savings accounts, it does impact dealing with the IRS. With these low interest rates also used by the IRS the penalties for underpaying estimated taxes are greatly reduced. The last quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of this year finds the IRS charging only 3 percent on underpayments. Some business owners will consider the 3 percent underpayment charge small or even irrelevant compared to the value of keeping the cash until the end of the year to run and expand their business. Note: this does not mean that the taxes will not be owed. If you are contemplating this strategy, you still must make sure you have the cash to pay the taxes by April so you don’t incur penalties on top of the interest.
We will finish up this series in future Silkin Management Group blogs.
Scott Barnard
Silkin Management Group Consultant
For more information about Silkin Management Group visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com or call us at 800-695-0257.
by Silkin Management Group on January 24, 2012
Yesterday we began a series of articles concerning tax trends that readers of our Silkin Management Group blogs should be aware of for 2012. The two points we covered in yesterday’s article were a) increased tax audits and b) some potential tax consequences of the federal health care legislation that will be ruled on by the Supreme Court this year. You can link to that Silkin Management Group blog site here: http://bit.ly/xjpz9Y
Today we’ll cover two more 2012 tax related points that Silkin Management Group clients and blog readers should be aware of.
• Extension of some favorable tax rules: Last year we wrote about some tax rules that were very favorable to businesses. These rules included: a) the ability to take 100% depreciation on eligible business related equipment purchases; b) complete exclusion for gain on the sales of business stock that qualifies. Point “a” is most relevant to Silkin Management Group clients. These tax rules expired at the end of 2011 but were and are expected to be extended at least through 2012. There seems to be some bipartisan support for this so, hopefully, these extensions will not be part of the continual partisan bickering and lack of fiscal progress by Congress.
• New revenue sources: Every government entity is searching and searching for increased revenue to balance extremely unbalanced budgets. This includes state and local governments. As a simple example you might look at how much more parking and motor vehicle moving violation tickets cost these days. An increase in state sponsored gambling is one of the biggest new sources of revenue. Some states are attempting to legalize on line gambling to bring in money. Keep an eye out in your state and city for new tax rules and laws being implemented to raise revenue in your area. Any increase in revenue comes out of someone’s wallet, likely including yours.
During this week we will continue to add to this list of 2012 tax related issues that all business owners should be aware of.
Eric Korb
Silkin Management Group Consultant
For more information about Silkin Management Group, give us a call at 800-695-0257 or visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com.