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Business Strategies, business taxes, Family Tax Issues, General Information, RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS, Self Employed, TAX DEBT RELIEF, Tax Reduction, TAXES

How Corporations Reduce IRS Audits of Home-Office Deductions

October 16, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

In our south loop Chicago tax preparation office, we often work with clients that want to reduce their tax bill, without triggering an audit. If you filed your business income and expenses as a proprietor in 2017 and reported $100,000 or more in gross receipts, your chances of IRS audit were 2.4 percent (2017 returns are still open for audit, so the percentage could increase).

Had you reported this income as an S corporation, your chances of audit were only 0.20 percent.

You have probably read that the home-office deduction increases your chances of IRS audit. We’ve read that, too, but we don’t believe it.

Regardless, let’s assume that you’re a little paranoid about audits, and you want to claim the home-office deduction in a way that doesn’t attract the attention of the IRS.

If you operate as a corporation, your home-office deduction does not show on either your personal return or your corporate return if you have the corporation reimburse the office as an employee business expense.
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With reimbursement, the corporation claims the deduction for the expenses it reimburses to you. The corporation probably puts the reimbursement into a category called “office expenses” or something similar. Thus, the home-office deduction as a name or title does not appear in the corporate return.

You receive the reimbursement from the corporation as a reimbursed employee expense. You do not report employee-expense reimbursements as taxable income on your personal return. Thus, you do not identify the home office on your personal return.

Got it? The home-office deduction does not appear under a home-office label on either the corporate or personal tax return as a tax deduction.

If the corporate form of business appeals to you, please call us at 1-855-743-5765 so we can look at your options to see if we should spend some time on your tax planning.

Although we’ve given you the basics, this is not an all-inclusive article. Should you have tax debt help questions, need Chicago business tax preparation, business entity creation, business insurance, or business compliance assistance please contact us online, or call our office toll free at 1-855-743-5765 or locally in Chicago or Indiana at 1-708-529-6604. Make sure to join our newsletter for more tips on reducing taxes, and increasing your wealth.

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Family Tax Issues, General Information, REAL ESTATE, Self Employed, TAX DEBT RELIEF, Tax Reduction, TAXES

Are you a homeowner marrying a homeowner?

October 3, 2019October 3, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

In our Chicago South Loop Tax Preparation office, we frequently meet with engaged couples for tax planning purposes. An issue that comes up often is the one of homeowners marrying each other. Engaged couples that each own a home have to decide which home to move into, & which home to rent out, or sell. Keep reading to see how you can sell your home and pay ZERO TAXES on up to $500,000!

1.) Don’t sell until AFTER THE WEDDING. If you sell your personal residence for a profit, you may be able to exclude up to $250,000 as a single person, and up to $500,000 if you’re married. In order to get the entire $500,000 both spouses must have used the home as their primary residence for at least 2 years out of the last 5 years. If only 1 spouse used the home as a residence, the maximum exclusion will be $250,000.

2.) File your taxes married filing jointly. Check with your tax professional to see if this is the best filing status for your situation. Tax debt, student loans, and child support obligations need to be taken into consideration before choosing this status.

3.) Sell the home that at least 1 of you have lived in for 24 months out of the last 5 years. In order to qualify for the personal residence capital gain exclusion you must meet the ownership and residency test. Per IRS.gov “If you owned the home for at least 24 months (2 years) out of the last 5 years leading up to the date of sale (date of the closing), you meet the ownership requirement. For a married couple filing jointly, only one spouse has to meet the ownership requirement.

HOWEVER, for the residence test, the IRS says: unlike the ownership requirement, each spouse must meet the residence requirement individually for a married couple filing jointly to get the full exclusion. If you owned the home and used it as your residence for at least 24 months of the previous 5 years, you meet the residence requirement. The 24 months of residence can fall anywhere within the 5-year period, and it doesn’t have to be a single block of time. All that is required is a total of 24 months (730 days) of residence during the 5-year period.

4.) If you’re going to rent the home, remember to account for any property improvements when figuring your basis for depreciation. For example, if you purchased the home for $100,000 & you’ve added a $10,000 porch, and a $20,000 roof, your basis (amount of money in the property) is now $130,000. There are other rules that need to be considered when figuring tax basis, so consult a tax professional.

5.) If you rent to family, family includes only your spouse, brothers and sisters, half brothers and half sisters, ancestors (parents, grandparents, etc.), and lineal descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.). MAKE SURE TO CHARGE THEM FAIR MARKET VALUE FOR RENT so that you don’t lose out on valuable tax deductions!

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business taxes, General Information, RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS, Self Employed, TAX DEBT RELIEF, Tax Reduction, TAXES

Staying Out Of Trouble With “Gigs”

September 21, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

In our Chicago South Loop Tax Preparation office, we often help people with tax bills through our tax debt help services. After seeing so many get into tax trouble with their side gigs, we decided to give some pointers on how to stay out of trouble for those with side gigs.

Let me give you a scenario: You’ve got a great job, and you’re moonlighting as a graphics designer on a freelancer website. All your clients are paying you through PayPal & CashApp, and honestly, you’re cleaning up. An easy extra couple thousand dollars each month. How do you report that income?

Legally, you’re bound to report ANY income you have, but these days, with so many folks doing their side gigs, are you actually reporting it? There’s actually even a darker side to this, though, and it’s nothing really new. Tipped employees – those like servers and bartenders who have for years existed on tips from their customers, have had this challenge for decades. Legally, they, too, are required to report all their income. Do they?
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So what happens when you don’t report all of your income? You could get audited, if you earn over a certain amount the third party vendor can report your income to the IRs, but sometimes, the real place where not reporting your income can trip you up is… when you want FINANCE anything. In many cases, your ability to borrow money is based strongly not only on your repayment history, but also on your income. Guess where the bank or lender gets that information? Your tax returns, especially if you are a W2 employee.

Now, before you go and fall on your sword and claim every dime, understand there are a myriad of ways in which you can mitigate your tax bill even as you claim every dime you make. It could be by forming a S-corp, funding a retirement account, or shifting your income, starting a nonprofit, trust, or any one of a number of ways. As a result, though, especially if you create a so-called “pass-through” entity, you’ll have the ability to claim the income you’re legally responsible for AND make use of the deductions and protections afforded to these types of entities.

More importantly, it’s not expensive to set these up and the bookkeeping and tax preparation is very simple in such a small business. In the end, you’ll have the best of both worlds.

Although we’ve given you the basics, this is not an all-inclusive article. Should you have questions, or need business tax preparation, business entity creation, business insurance, or business compliance assistance please contact us online, or call our office at 855-743-5765. Make sure to join our newsletter for more tips on reducing taxes, and increasing your wealth.

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Business Strategies, business taxes, Family Tax Issues, General Information, RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS, Self Employed, TAX DEBT RELIEF, Tax Reduction, TAXES

IRS PUBLISHES SUMMERTIME TAX TIPS.

July 22, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

Buying a home? Working a summer job? Volunteering? Activities that are common in the summer often qualify for tax credits or deductions. And, while summertime and part-time workers may not earn enough to owe federal income tax, they should remember to file a return to get a refund for taxes withheld early next year.

Here are some summertime tax tips from the IRS that can help taxpayers during tax season next year:

Marital tax bliss. Newlyweds should report any name change to the Social Security Administration before filing next year’s tax return. Then, report any address change to the United States Postal Service, employers and the IRS to ensure receipt of tax-related items.

Cash back for summer day camp. Unlike overnight camps, the cost of summer day camp may count as an expense towards the Child and Dependent Care Credit. See IRS Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses, for more information.

Part-time and summer work. Employers usually must withhold Social Security and Medicare taxes from pay for part-time and season workers even if the employees don’t earn enough to meet the federal income tax filing threshold. Self-employed workers or independent contractors need to pay their own Social Security and Medicare taxes, even if they have no income tax liability.

Worker classification matters. Business owners must correctly determine whether summer workers are employees or independent contractors. Independent contractors are not subject to withholding, making them responsible for paying their own income taxes plus Social Security and Medicare taxes. Workers can avoid higher tax bills and lost benefits if they know their proper status.

Though the higher standard deduction means fewer taxpayers are itemizing their deductions, those that still plan to itemize next year should keep these tips in mind:

Deducting state and local income, sales and property taxes. The total deduction that taxpayers can deduct for state and local income, sales and property taxes is limited to a combined, total deduction of $10,000 or $5,000 if married filing separately. Any state and local taxes paid above this amount cannot be deducted.

Refinancing a home. The deduction for mortgage interest is limited to interest paid on a loan secured by the taxpayer’s main home or second home that they used to buy, build, or substantially improve their main home or second home.

Buying a home.

New homeowners buying after Dec. 15, 2017, can only deduct mortgage interest they pay on a total of $750,000, or $375,000 if married filing separately, in qualifying debt for a first and second home.

For existing mortgages if the loan originated on or before Dec. 15, 2017, taxpayers continue to deduct interest on a total of $1 million in qualifying debt secured by first and second homes.

Donate items. Deduct money. Those long-unused items in good condition found during a summer cleaning and donated to a qualified charity may qualify for a tax deduction. Taxpayers must itemize deductions to deduct charitable contributions and have proof of all donations.

Donate time. Deduct mileage. Driving a personal vehicle while donating services on a trip sponsored by a qualified charity could qualify for a tax break. Itemizers can deduct 14 cents per mile for charitable mileage driven in 2019.

Reporting gambling winnings and claiming gambling losses. Taxpayers who itemize can deduct gambling losses up to the amount of gambling winnings.

The last two tips are for taxpayers who have not yet filed but may be due a refund and those who may need to adjust their withholding.

Refunds require a tax return.

Although workers may not have earned enough money from a summer job to require filing a tax return, they may still want to file when tax time comes around.

It is essential to file a return to get a refund of any income tax withheld. There is no penalty for filing a late return for those receiving refunds, however, by law, a return must be filed within three years to get the refund. See the Interactive Tax Assistant, Do I need to file a tax return?

Check withholding. Newlyweds, summertime workers, homeowners and every taxpayer in between should take some time this summer to check their tax withholding to make sure they are paying the right amount of tax as they earn it throughout the year. Taxpayers should remember that, if needed, they should submit their new W-4 to their employer, not the IRS.

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HOW TO WRITE OFF YOUR 4TH OF JULY PARTY.

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

Author: Trudy M. Howard

In our Chicago South Loop Tax preparation office, everyone enjoys a BBQ, and a good party. While we enjoy having a good time, we LOVE saving clients money through effective tax planning. Below are a few tips on how you can reduce your taxable income with your 4th of July party.

INVITE ALL STAFF & FEW FRIENDS: Invite your ENTIRE STAFF to the 4th of July BBQ to get a tax deduction. NON EMPLOYEES WILL NOT give you a tax deduction. For example, if you invite 15 employees & their family to a 4th of July picnic, and you invite 5 of your friends & family members you have a total of 20 guest.If your party cost $2,500 you can write off 3/4 or 75% (20 guest total, 1/4 friends 5/20) of the expense at 100%. $2,500 x .75= $1,875 tax deduction.

Per IRS PUBLICATION 15-B: “Food or beverage expenses related to employee recreation, such as holiday parties or annual picnics, aren’t subject to the 50% limit on deductions when made primarily for the benefit of your employees other than employees who are officers, shareholders or other owners who own a 10% or greater interest in your business, or other highly compensated employees.”

INVITE POTENTIAL BUSINESS PROSPECTS: 1/2 of something is better than 0 of something. You can deduct 50% of the FOOD COST ONLY if you invite current or potential business customer, client, consultant, or similar business contact. Your food cost must be on SEPARATE RECEIPT to be tax deductible. You cannot deduct the cost of the fireworks display, chairs, DJ, etc.

Per IRS PUBLICATION 463: “As discussed above, entertainment expenses are generally nondeductible. However, you may continue to deduct 50% of the cost of business meals if you (or an employee) is present and the food or beverages are not considered lavish or extravagant. The meals may be provided to a current or potential business customer, client, consultant, or similar business contact.

Food and beverages that are provided during entertainment events are not considered entertainment if purchased separately from the entertainment, or if the cost of the food and beverages is stated separately from the cost of the entertainment on one or more bills, invoices, or receipts.”

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How I went to IRS tax jail, aka IRS withholding compliance program.

June 17, 2019June 17, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

Author: Trudy M. Howard

Have you ever gotten away with something, and found yourself doing it again? Did you keep doing it thinking that you would never get caught, or if you did get caught, you could talk your way out of it? Well that was also me when it came to going exempt on my Federal taxes.

When I was 25 I started working for a major phone company, and I was earning about $70,000 per year. $70,000 wasn’t a shabby salary for a 25 year old single mother, but when the Federal taxes were deducted, I felt as if I was paying more in taxes than I was earning. With the increase in salary I no longer qualified for the earned income tax credit, I didn’t qualify for daycare assistance programs, and I was kicked out of the welfare office when I asked for medical help or food stamps! So what was a girl to do when she felt that she needed more money to survive? Was I supposed to create a budget and stick to it? Should I have stopped dining out? Maybe I should have picked up a side business (which would have created tax planning opportunities) and supplemented my income? While all of these things sound like viable, and reasonable options, 25 year old Trudy was not reasonable, and she certainly wasn’t going to discipline herself to stick to a budget. While discussing my financial crisis (don’t judge me) with a friend, she told me about a “magical thing” called “going exempt from Federal income tax.”
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In order to stop the government from taking $300 and $400 out of my paychecks, “all I had to do (which is the opening statement for all bad ideas)” was write exempt on my W4, hand the form to my employer, and magically, all of the deductions would stop. The first time that I went exempt I was afraid. Was the IRS going to come after me? Was my job going to fire me for not paying taxes? Would I owe the IRS a gazillion dollars? To my surprise (and eventual demise) none of these things happened. In fact, nothing happened, life continued on, and I was happy as jay bird; that is until tax time arrived.

In June of 2002 I received my first IRS tax bill (notice CP51A). I ignored it. More letters came; I ignored them. Certified letters came; I refused to pick them up. The only letter that caught my attention was the CP504 intent to levy, and it only caught my attention because it mentioned the word assets. Me being me, I waited until the last minute to contact the IRS, and after my bank account was levied, I finally understood that when the IRS sends letters, it’s best to call them immediately. One would think that the levy would have changed my ways, but nope! All the levy did was teach me to get tax debt help, and work out a payment plan with the IRS.

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After resolving my tax debt issues, I began the crazy cycle of racking up tax debt, and asking for an installment plan. 10 years into this cycle I finally reached the mother of all IRS agents, and she told me “be careful, because an IRS agents can see that you keep racking up debt, and that you don’t have enough withholding. When you don’t have enough withholdings, the IRS can force you to increase your withholding.” My internal response was “girl bye… I’ve been doing this for years, run the payment plan and shut up” but my external response was “Really they can do that? I always figured that I would settle up with the IRS at the end of the year. I’ll do better this year, I promise.” Little did I know the gig was up, and I was on my way to IRS tax jail.

Merriam Webster defines prison as: “a state of confinement or captivity, or a place of confinement especially for lawbreakers.” While IRS tax jail is not a physical jail with walls, those that have been placed into the IRS withholding compliance program can tell you that it certainly feels like jail! Once the taxpayer becomes a lawbreaker (by not paying their taxes as they go), they are eventually placed into the IRS withholding compliance program (aka IRS tax jail), and held captive for a minimum of 3 years. During this 3 year period the IRS states that: “your employer must withhold income tax from your wages as if you’re single with zero allowances.”

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To illustrate, in 2019, if a person is earning $70,000 (and there were thrown into IRS tax jail aka withholding compliance program), they would have $400.87 withheld from each paycheck to cover their Federal income taxes. In addition to the Federal tax deduction, every paycheck would also have deductions for Social Security ($166.92), Medicare ($39.04), and state taxes ( I live in Illinois, and in IL the tax would be $133.27. After taxes, the taxpayer would be left with a net pay of $1,952.21, not including deductions for health insurance, dental, vision, life insurance, disability, union dues, and so on. So if the IRS tax jail isn’t physical, how is one cast into IRS tax jail? The IRS sends tax payers to IRS tax Jail by sending letter 2800C to the taxpayers employer.

Once your employer receives letter 2800C per IRS.gov: “within 60 days the employer must “begin withholding income tax from this employee’s wages based on a withholding rate (or marital status) single, and withholding allowances of 0.” No amount of pleading, threatening, or arguing with your employer will change this. If you switch employers, the IRS will find you. The only thing that you can do is contact the IRS yourself (for the DIY crowd), or you can work with a professional tax debt resolution firm to negotiate with the IRS on your behalf.. Depending on your number of dependents, and marital status, the IRS may show you some mercy. There is always the option of doing nothing, and if you choose to do nothing, you can expect your lock in rate to begin within 60 days, and you will remain in IRS tax jail for a minimum of 3 years.

As with every good story, there is always a silver lining. If during your 3 year bid, you remain a good little taxpayer (by paying your taxes & staying in tax compliance) the warden can release you from IRS tax jail.

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Avoid This S Corporation Health Insurance Deduction Mistake

June 12, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

If you have family members working for you in your S corporation, stop and read this article now.

In our SOUTH LOOP OF CHICAGO TAX PREPARATION office, when providing TAX PREPARATION FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS, we often see a common mistake being made amongst S-CORP owners.

Think of this: You own 100 percent of your S corporation. Your 30-year-old daughter works for your S corporation. She owns no stock. Your S corporation covers her with a group health policy. Did your S corporation claim an insurance deduction for the cost of the premiums attributable to your daughter? If yes, that’s wrong. The health insurance is not deductible by the S corporation as health insurance.

With the incorrect setup, your family is simply out the money it paid for the health insurance. This is bad. It means a zero deduction for the S CORPORATION and a lost health insurance deduction for your daughter.

If you own more than 2 percent of an S corporation, you have to do three things to claim a deduction for your health insurance:

You must get the cost of the insurance on the S corporation’s books.
Your S corporation must include the health insurance premiums on your W-2 form.
You must (if eligible) claim the health insurance deduction as an above-the-line deduction on Form 1040.

The three-step procedure also applies (and this could be a surprise) to your spouse, children, grandchildren, and parents if they work for your S corporation and get health insurance coverage, even if they don’t own a single share of S corporation stock directly.

You need to get this right. Without the W-2 treatment, the S corporation does not get a tax deduction.

With the correct W-2 treatment, the more than 2 percent shareholder who finds the health insurance premiums on his or her W-2 can claim the self-employed health insurance deduction on Form 1040, provided he or she is not eligible for employer-subsidized health insurance through another job or a spouse’s job.

If you or your S corporation did not handle this correctly in the past, we need to get busy amending those returns to create and protect the proper tax deductions. If this is the situation, please call Howard Tax Prep LLC at 855-743-5765.

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Fraud by Tax Preparer Creates Big Trouble for Client

June 1, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

Is your tax preparer honest? You likely see indicators one way or the other. If your tax preparer commits fraud that benefits you, that can create trouble for you. In our Chicago South Loop tax preparation office, we see a lot of clients that need tax debt relief. Many tax debt cases happen because a taxpayer unknowingly hired a dishonest tax preparer to file their tax return. Let’s see how this works in real life.

Situation

The government indicted, tried, and convicted tax preparer Gregory D. Goosby of 30 fraud violations where he willfully aided and assisted in the preparation of false and fraudulent income tax returns.

Vincent Allen engaged Goosby to prepare his tax returns before Goosby’s fraud conviction. Allen gave Goosby his W-2, 401(k) statement, mortgage interest statement, and property tax statements. Goosby used those deductions but also added others, claiming false and fraudulent deductions for charitable contributions, meals and entertainment, and pager and computer expenses.

Guys with Guns

Two special agents from the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division interviewed Allen concerning Goosby’s preparation of his income tax returns. Allen agreed with the IRS that the deductions were false and fraudulent, but both the IRS and Allen blamed Goosby. The IRS did not charge Allen with intent to evade taxes (fraud).
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Statute of Limitations

In general, the IRS has three years from the date you file your tax return to audit it and propose adjustments. In the case of fraud, the IRS can audit your return at any time. There is no limit on how far back the IRS can go.

In this case against Allen, the first-ever case of this nature decided by the Tax Court, the fraud was committed by Goosby, the preparer, not by Allen, the taxpayer. So the Tax Court had to decide whether the fraud by the tax preparer extended the statute of limitations on the client’s return.

And that’s exactly what the Tax Court decided in this precedent-setting case. The tax preparer’s fraud extends the statute of limitations for fraud to the client even when the client is not charged with fraud. This means that if your tax preparer fraudulently prepares your return and you file it, the law extends the period during which the IRS can audit that tax return from the usual three years to forever.

Allen Was Lucky

Although Allen may not have felt lucky after he paid his lawyer fees and also handed over $10,000 in taxes, the IRS did not charge him with fraud and the court did not make him pay the 75 percent fraud penalty on the taxes due.
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Beware

Using a dishonest tax preparer is a mistake. When the IRS catches the dishonest preparer, it likely catches you, too. And as the Tax Court has now ruled, fraud is fraud, and that opens your tax return up to IRS examination forever.

Protect yourself. Do not engage dishonest tax preparers. With Howard Tax Prep LLC, you will always have an honest tax preparer. We will always do our best to help you lower your taxes, but we will never cheat.

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Owe the IRS? Find out what your credit report tells them.

May 11, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

man in white shirt using macbook pro

Author: Trudy M. Howard

In our Chicago tax debt office you’ll often hear me say “the IRS is worse than the FBI.” Of course this is simply my opinion (based upon years of research, tax debt cases, education, and government documents), but if the IRS isn’t worse than the FBI, they surely are a close 2nd!

When I tell you that the IRS can find out anything, I mean they can find out anything (except for your blood type, but I’m sure that’s pending)! The IRS has access to systems that you wouldn’t believe existed. For example, did you know that the IRS receives a weekly file of new movers? It’s true. “The United States Postal Service (USPS) provides an address update product — the National Change of Address Linkage (NCOA^Link), and the IRS receives a weekly NCOA^Link file from USPS. The file contains all of the reported changes of address in the United States for the week.” Not only does the IRS use this system, along with several others, the IRS also has the authority to pull a debtor’s credit report! Keep reading to see what your credit report tells the IRS.

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There are 6 key things that an IRS collections representative is looking for when they access your credit report.

Previous residences along with old/current employers.
Other lien holders to see how much you owe, and how much you’ve paid.
Property that may not have been disclosed during your collections interview.
Leads to hidden assets by identifying other creditors.
Financial institutions that you have done business with in the past and currently.
Entities and associations with foreign banks and corporations.

Hopefully, by viewing this list you see that it is important to disclose all financial information when dealing with the IRS. Once you submit all of your financial information, Howard Tax Prep LLC, located in the South Loop of Chicago, can help you with an IRS tax debt settlement, a tax debt payment plan, removal of tax lien, and IRS wage garnishments in Chicago, and all 50 states.

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What is the De Minimis safe harbor $2,500 Expensing ($5,000 with AFS)?

April 25, 2019April 25, 2019 Howard Tax Prep LLC

It’s a new year, and in preparation for the Chicago small business tax preparation season, you can elect the de minimis safe harbor to expense assets costing $2,500 or less ($5,000 with audited financial statements or something similar).

The term “safe harbor” means that the IRS will accept your expensing of the qualified assets if you properly abided by the rules of the safe harbor.

Here are four benefits of this safe harbor:

Safe harbor expensing is superior to Section 179 expensing because you don’t have the recapture period that can complicate your taxes.
Safe harbor expensing takes depreciation out of the equation.
Safe harbor expensing simplifies your tax and business records because you don’t have the assets cluttering your books.
The safe harbor does not reduce your overall ceiling on Section 179 expensing.

Here’s how the safe harbor works. Say you are a small business that elects the $2,500 ceiling for safe harbor expensing and you buy two desks costing $2,100 each. On the invoice, you see the quantity “two” and the total cost of $4,200, plus sales tax of $378 and a $200 delivery and setup charge, for a total of $4,778.

Before this safe harbor, you would have capitalized each desk at $2,389 ($4,778 ÷ 2) and then either Section 179 expensed or depreciated it. You would have kept the desks in your depreciation schedules until you disposed of them.

Now, with the safe harbor, you simply expense the desks as office supplies. This makes your tax life much easier.

To benefit from the safe harbor, you and I do a two-step process. It works like this:

Step 1. For safe harbor protection, you must have in place an accounting policy—at the beginning of the tax year—that requires expensing of an amount of your choosing, up to the $2,500 or $5,000 limit. I can help you with this.

Step 2. When I prepare your tax return, I make the election on your tax return for you to use safe harbor expensing. This requires that I attach the election statement to your federal tax return and file that tax return by the due date (including extensions).

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