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Office in the Home
2020 saw a huge increase in taxpayers working from home. A good internet connection can allow taxpayers in many industries to work almost anywhere. Whether it is because the typical workspace has closed or there’s a need to be home to care for a family member, the shift to working from home can come with substantial tax savings. Claiming the home office deduction allows the taxpayer to take a typically non-deductible expense and make it deductible, reducing the amount of income subject to tax. The most important item to note is the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) suspended this deduction for employees until 2025. However, this deduction is still available to taxpayers who are self-employed or independent contractors. (Some states may still allow a deduction for an employee). While it’s not as easy as claiming the expenses and calling it a day, home office deductions provide fantastic ways to get a tax deduction for amounts you ordinarily would spend but are not eligible as write-offs. Keep reading to learn the details and how to deduct things like your homeowner’s association dues, security systems, and other home improvements.
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CURRENT EDITION
2025 Tax Surprises You Shouldn’t Overlook
There are a few tax rules new for 2025 that may catch some individuals and their tax advisers by surprise. These changes have not received lots of attention either because they are overshadowed by related changes that are more significant, or they were enacted a few years back with a future effective date that arrives in 2025. This article covers changes for 2025 that you will want to be sure to share with clients to avoid surprises at a later date.
Leaving the United States, Part I: Expats
When Americans speak of leaving America, they generally are expressing a desire to live elsewhere in the world for cultural reasons or due to cost of living. These people are called expatriates, aka expats. For clarity, a mere visit to another country does not make you an expat. To be an expat, the move needs to be long-term and often includes working or retiring in the new country. Expats live somewhere outside the U.S., but still have a tax obligation to the U.S. and possibly the country they move to. That will be the focus of this article.
Tax Preparer Hit with Stiff Sentence
John Anthony Castro is a colorful character. He entered several Republican primaries seeking the Presidential slot after failing to win the primary for a Senate seat representing Texas. He sued to have our once and future President Donald Trump be removed from the ballot on Fourteenth Amendment Section 3 grounds. As we can easily infer, those suits went nowhere. But more than anything, John Anthony Castro was a tax guy with a virtual practice with locations in four cities. Not anymore. Now he is resident in a Bureau of Prisons facility – the Federal Medical Center Fort Worth. On October 30, 2024, Judge Terry Means sentenced Castro to 188 months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release and restitution of $277,243, following his conviction on 33 counts of “Aiding and Assisting in the Preparation and Presentation of a False and Fraudulent Return.” Does the sad story of John Anthony Castro hold any lessons for us? Perhaps.
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