Tax Tips

As tax season approaches, I thought it might be helpful to provide some guidance on how to successfully proceed in collecting and organizing your information. Tax Questionnaire The first step is to download this year’s tax questionnaire.  The questionnaire is our basis in understanding your unique tax situation and provides the opportunity for you to […]

In order to claim a deductible business expense that is both ordinary and necessary to perform your job, you must be able to justify the expense and provide evidence of payment. In order to justify the expense you should provide written documentation to substantiate the cost, the date of purchase, the place or description of […]

The IRS has increased scrutiny of employee business expenses–specifically business miles.  Be sure to keep track of your business miles in a mileage log to verify the legitimate purpose of each trip.  It’s also a good idea to have your car professionally serviced at the beginning and end of each year to make sure you […]

To increase tax revenue from noncompliant taxpayers, California, Colorado and Arizona offer a tax amnesty for individuals with outstanding tax liability in their particular state.  California’s amnesty program started August 1st and lasts until October 31st, Arizona’s program started September 1st and runs until October 1st and Colorado’s runs from October 1st to November 15th. […]

Driving to work out this summer?  Be sure to keep good records on the miles you drive.  The IRS allows a $.51 deduction for every mile driven for business purpose.  Off season training for a professional athlete qualifies as a legitimate business purpose thus the mileage is deductible.  For more information on how to keep […]

It’s essential you keep good records to justify each hockey related business expense. If the IRS ever requests further documentation from you about a specific expense, you will need to do two things to prove you are entitled to deduct the expense. Prove you made the payment by providing either a cancelled check, bank statement […]

Were you fined by your team or the league this past year? The Internal Revenue Service [IRS] considers fines an ‘ordinary and necessary’ business expense and so you can claim fines as expenses on your income taxes. Now I wouldn’t encourage you to receive additional fines, but I would encourage you to keep track of the amount […]

It’s always a good idea to review your financial investments before the end of the year. Capital losses on securities are deductible up to $3,000 with any additional loss being carried forward to future years.  So if you have securities that have depreciated over the past several years, let’s consider liquidating them before the end […]

Have you received all of your refunds?  With budget difficulties in states such as California and New York and the delaying of issuing refunds it is important to make sure that you have received all of the refunds you were expecting.  If your refund was to be directly deposited into your checking or savings account […]

Playing in Europe or Asia this upcoming season? Playing abroad doesn’t excuse you from paying income taxes in North America: If you’re a U.S. citizen or a Canadian resident, you’re required to claim all worldwide income on your year-end income tax return.