Depreciation is a deduction from income tax that lets you recover the cost of property. Click through to see how the IRS allows for the wear and tear, deterioration or even obsolescence of items.

Depreciation of tangible property — buildings, machinery, vehicles, furniture and equipment, even cell phones — as well as intangible property, such as patents, copyrights and computer software, in some situations, is allowed by the IRS and can be used to offset income from your business. Does your property meet these requirements?

• You own the property.
• Or you lease the property and make capital improvements.
• You use the property in business and for personal purposes. (In this case, you can only deduct depreciation for business use of the property.)
• The property must have a determinable useful life of more than one year.

However, not everything can be depreciated. For example, land is off the table: It doesn’t get used up and is not subject to wear and tear. Inventory is not depreciated either.

You depreciate an asset over time. When you place property in service to use in your business or trade or to produce income, that’s when depreciation begins. However, property stops being depreciable when you’ve fully recovered the property’s cost or other basis or when you retire it from service — whichever happens first.

There are different schedules for different items: For computers, office equipment, cars, trucks and appliances, the recovery time is up to five years; office furniture and fixtures work on a seven-year schedule. Residential rental properties can be recovered over 27.5 years, while commercial buildings and nonresidential properties can be recovered over 39 years, depending on the year you acquired them.

You need to know the initial cost of the asset and how long you can depreciate it for. There are three depreciation methods summarized below. Particular situations will dictate which ones are most appropriate for you.

• Straight line — depreciate the property an equal amount each year over its useful life.
• Accelerated method — take larger depreciation deductions in the first few years of the property’s useful life and smaller deductions later on.
• Section 179 deduction — deduct the entire cost of the asset the year it’s acquired.

And to ensure that you properly depreciate property, you need to consider:

• The depreciation method for the property.
• The class life of the asset.
• Whether the property is Listed Property (as defined by the IRS)
• Whether you’ve elected to expense any portion of the asset.
• Whether you qualify for any bonus first-year depreciation.
• The depreciable basis of the property.

Use depreciation to decrease your tax burden — you are lowering your overall taxable income. Depreciation doesn’t affect your company’s cash flow or its actual cash balance — it’s a noncash expense. However, before making any decisions, keep in mind that this is just an introduction to a very complex topic, and the provisions and methods described here are not applicable in every situation. Give us a call to discuss them further.

Request a consultation through our website today or give us a call at 214-475-1708 to get started.

Giving your taxes your full attention just once a year isn’t the best business strategy. Experts suggest that a year-round approach is better for your finances. Click through to learn the best ways to evaluate the impact of taxes throughout the year.

Numerous tax experts agree that addressing your tax liability effectively requires planning throughout the year. Those business owners who reap the most benefits consider their taxes year-round, rather than waiting to focus on tax payments just a few weeks before the filing date.

A typical small business qualifies for roughly a dozen tax deductions. For example, you may be able to claim deductions on the following:

• Cars operated for business purposes
• Business-related travel and entertainment expenses
• Purchases of office supplies, furniture, equipment, and software programs
• Telephone expenses
• Contributions toward insurance policies, retirement plans, and pension funds

It’s surprising how many small businesses never take advantage of these deductions, mainly because they suffer from the “tax-planning-happens-but-once-a-year” syndrome. To fully benefit from these deductions, it’s important to maintain your expense records throughout the year.

Your goal should be to reduce your tax liabilities by retaining records of your purchases and determining the proportion of business costs in combined expenses. By monitoring your expenses closely all year, you can analyze each expense for its tax impact as it’s made. Additionally, smart business owners should contemplate three key steps to tax planning:

1. Invest in the most effective tax record tools for your business. Whether it’s spending roughly $30 on journals and tax books with a set of refill sheets costing less than $10 to do manual bookkeeping or investing up to $2,000 on the latest online software tax-filing applications, you will benefit from more rigorous and accurate recordkeeping. Sure, the initial investment could be significant, but regular monitoring should facilitate tracking expenses and making advance payments, which will save you money in the long run.

2. Determine when you need professional tax tips and planning advice. At times you will be able to justify paying for professional tax services, particularly if you need advice on unclear requirements in tax laws that could be in your favor. To prevent unnecessary complications and aggravations, you must avoid violating tax laws that may be applicable to your small business. If you are unsure of these laws, using the tools at your disposal, such as current software and online recordkeeping, and complementing those capabilities with professional advice when needed, can help you keep your taxes under control.

3. Establish year-round tax planning goals. A good tax-planning strategy will help you accomplish some of these goals:

• Reduce the amount of taxable income
• Claim any available tax credits
• Lower your tax rate
• Control the time when taxes must be paid
• Avoid the most common tax-planning mistakes

Plus, a year-end review at the end of your fiscal year or “busy season” can be most effective if you’ve maintained clear records and an understanding of your financial position throughout the year.

Of course, this is just a general list. Not all deductions are available in all situations, and rules change frequently. Give us a call to discuss which deductions apply to your company.

Please take advantage of our free initial consultation to learn more about how we can save you money on taxes.

If you run a small business, you already have a full plate. The last thing you need is for the IRS to question any of your business expense deductions. But it could happen. And that’s why having records that prove your expenses is so important. Even deductions for routine business expenses could be disallowed if you don’t have appropriate records.

What Records Are Required?

Except in a few instances, the tax law does not require any special kind of records. You’re free to have a recordkeeping system that is suited to your business, as long as it clearly shows your expenses. In addition to books that allow you to track and summarize your business transactions, you should keep supporting documents, such as:

• Canceled checks
• Cash register receipts
• Credit card sales slips
• Invoices
• Account statements

The rules are stricter for travel and transportation expenses. You should retain hotel bills or other documentary evidence (e.g., receipts, canceled checks) for each lodging expense and for any other expense of $75 or more. In addition, you should maintain a diary, log, or account book with the information described below.

• Travel. Your records should show the cost of each separate expense for travel, lodging, and meals. For each trip, record your destination, the dates you left and returned, and the number of days spent on business. Also record the business purpose for the expense or the business benefit you gained or expected to gain. Incidental expenses, such as taxi fares, may be totaled in reasonable categories.
• Transportation. As with travel and entertainment, you should record the amount and date of each separate expense. Note your business destination and the business purpose for the expense. If you are deducting actual car expenses, you’ll need to record the cost of the car and the date you started using it for business (for depreciation purposes). If you drive the car for both business and personal purposes or claim the standard mileage rate, keep records of the mileage for each business use and the total miles driven during the year.

Don’t Mix Business and Personal Expenses

Things can get tangled if you intermingle business and personal expenses. You can avoid headaches by having a separate business bank account and credit card.

Take the initiative to start managing and reducing your tax burden today. Call our tax accountants at 972-442-6800 to learn how you can pay lower taxes or request a consultation through our website now and we’ll contact you.

If you are a volunteer board member for a nonprofit organization, one specific issue to keep in mind is the IRS’s trust fund recovery penalty. If any entity — nonprofit or for-profit — fails to properly remit Social Security taxes and/or income taxes withheld from employees’ wages, the IRS will directly approach the organization’s “responsible persons” for the tax payments and a potential 100% penalty.

In general, the penalty will not be imposed on any unpaid, volunteer member of the board of a tax-exempt organization if the member: (1) is solely serving in an honorary capacity, (2) does not participate in the day-to-day operations of the organization, (3) does not participate in the financial operations of the organization, and (4) does not have actual knowledge of the failure on which the penalty is based.

However, for an active member who has governing responsibilities, it is still important to ask questions about who is handling these tax payments (a staff member, the executive director, a payroll service, an accountant?) and what checks and balances are in effect to make sure no problems arise. Annual reviews or audits may also be helpful to verify compliance.

To learn more about non-profit compliance issues, give us a call today. We look forward to helping your non-profit grow.

When you turn to us for tax services, you’ll receive top-notch customer service from our friendly staff of knowledgeable accountants and financial professionals. We’ll happily answer your questions and will always respond to your emails and phone calls promptly. Request a consultation through our website today or give us a call at 972-442-6800 to get started.