NEWS
Independent Contractors v. Employees – An Update
Worker classification is a hotly contested audit issue that has caused anxiety for business owners all across the country. Whether a worker is classified as an employee or as an independent contractor can mean a substantial difference in the amount of employment taxes that the business pays.
Deduction for Business Meals Related to Entertainment
Many businesses consider the occasional wining and dining of customers and clients just to stay in touch with them to be a necessary cost of doing business. The same goes for taking business associates or even employees out to lunch once in a while after an especially tough assignment has been completed successfully.
2019 Luxury Auto Depreciation Caps and Lease Inclusion Amounts
You use your vehicle for business purposes, the Internal Revenue Service allows you to write off some of the vehicle’s cost. By depreciating your vehicle, you deduct a specified amount of your taxable income to account for the vehicle’s loss of value for each year of use.
New Services Help Online Sellers with Pennsylvania Sales Tax
The PA Department of Revenue (DOR) is making it easier for people and businesses selling products online to collect and remit Pennsylvania sales tax.
Pennsylvania Sales Tax and Economic Nexus
From the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue | www.revenue.pa.gov
In June 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in South Dakota v. Wayfair. The opinion overturned the court’s previous ruling in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, which required a business to have a physical presence in a state in order for the business to be required to collect that state’s sales tax.
Read in conjunction with Pennsylvania’s Tax Reform Code, the Supreme Court’s decision in the Wayfair case creates an economic nexus for certain sellers of products in Pennsylvania, where previously, nexus existed only for those with a physical presence in the commonwealth.
Deduction for Business Meals Related to Entertainment
Many businesses consider the occasional wining and dining of customers and clients just to stay in touch with them to be a necessary cost of doing business. The same goes for taking business associates or even employees out to lunch once in a while after an especially tough assignment has been completed successfully. It’s easy to think of these entertainment costs as deductible business expenses. However, due to a recent change in the tax law, many of those expenses may not be deductible.
IRS Provides a Safe Harbor Method of Accounting for Passenger Automobiles that Qualify for the 100-Percent Additional First Year Depreciation
From the IRS | IR-2019-14 | February 13, 2019
The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued guidance today that provides a safe harbor method for determining depreciation deductions for passenger automobiles that qualify for the 100-percent additional first year depreciation deduction and that are subject to the depreciation limitations for passenger automobiles.
Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the additional first year depreciation deduction applies to qualified property, including passenger automobiles, acquired and placed in service after September 27, 2017, and before January 1, 2027.
Pennsylvania Announces 2019 Underpayment and Overpayment Interest Rates
From the PA Department of Revenue | Pennsylvania Bulletin Doc. No. 18-2018 | December 29, 2018
Pennsylvania announced 2019 interest rates on tax underpayments and overpayments. The interest rates increased by 2% per year in each category.
New PA-100 Online Application Now Available
From the PA Department of Revenue | Tax Update No. 200 | January 2019
The Department of Revenue recently launched an updated online application for the Pennsylvania Enterprise Registration Form (PA-100), which is used by individuals and organizations for certain taxes and services. The updated online application for the PA-100 requires an e-Signature login, which allows taxpayers to use the same log-in information that they use for e-TIDES, the department’s online system that business taxpayers use to file returns and pay taxes.