A federal judge on Tuesday blocked an Obama administration rule to extend mandatory overtime pay to more than 4 million salaried workers from taking effect, imperiling one of the outgoing president’s signature achievements for boosting wages. U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant, in Sherman, Texas, agreed with 21 states and a coalition of more than 50 business groups, including the U.S....
Some tax-cutting strategies make good financial sense. Others are simply bad ideas, often because tax considerations are allowed to override basic economics. Here’s one example of the tax tail wagging the economic dog. Let’s say that you operate an unincorporated consulting business. You want an additional tax write-off, so you decide to buy $10,000 of office furniture that you don’t...
Tags: tax planning
Category: Taxes
If you’re an employer, you’ll need to withhold social security tax from a higher amount of your employees’ wages in 2017. The wage base for withholding social security tax from wages has increased to $127,200, up from $118,500 in 2016. The federal payroll tax rate remains 7.65%, a combination of social security tax withheld at 6.2%, and Medicare tax withheld...
Tags: ss wage base
Category: Taxes
Under current federal tax law, in 2016, you can take advantage of an annual exclusion to give up to $14,000 to as many individuals as you want without paying gift tax. If you’re married and your spouse joins in the gift, you can, as a couple, elect to give $28,000 to each person with no gift tax liability. If you...
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Category: Uncategorized