Individual Taxation
We’ve been able to build capacity in the navigation of regulatory regimes to help you protect your brand image and professional integrity while cutting down on tax expenditure.
Quite frequently, we service clients in the areas of Multi-state allocation, Sale of Home, Self-employment (individual contractor or freelancer), rental property, foreign income exclusion and foreign tax credit, foreign asset disclosure, and foreign gift disclosure.
Sounds like your cup of tea? You’re one push of a button away from finding a fix. Connect with us today.
Tax Planning & Projections
The changing landscape of tax regulations means you need to keep your ears on the ground for the latest tax updates that could potentially save you significant sums. As insiders, we’ll help you make sure you never miss an opportunity to take advantage of changes in taxation.
What’s more? We’re actively on the lookout for tax strategies that can help minimize your tax obligations. One of the best ways to do this is by planning adequately. Whether tax projections and preparations of quarterly figures to prime you up for the outcome of different events on your taxes or cash outlay, G&J TAX CPA is purpose-built to help you chart your financial trajectory as it concerns taxes with proper tax planning.
Some of these tax planning services involve tax calculations/estimations, helping you set up your retirement plan, timing on sales, and reviewing the filing status of your business. We also come up with investment strategies and other miscellaneous services that you or your business may daily need.
Nothing is certain but death and taxes. While you may be legally barred from evading your taxes, it’s perfectly within the bounds of the law to avoid or minimize taxes and maximize profits. The tax code is ridden with a lot of complexity that can breed confusion to the average taxpayer — both for family & business tax planning.
This is where you need the help of highly specialized professionals. Our vast experience providing services in these areas to several other clients means we’re not just sharpening our taxation chop—we’ve achieved expert status! Like other clients before you, we have been able to do all within the confines of the law and permissible by the IRS to limit tax obligations, helping you conserve your hard-earned money.
Need a helping hand? Our expert team is available to give expert tips and practical solutions geared at helping you solve your tax problems.
Taxation of Rental Properties
It doesn’t matter whether you’re renting out a unit of apartment or you manage the rental of entire properties. Deductions are real, and there are a few of them you should know about:
- For one, your residential property, if not rented out within a 27.5-year timeline, runs the risk of being depreciated, which can eat into your returns. Skipping your depreciation attracts steep penalties that could last a long time.
- Mortgage and real estate taxes also fall into this category. But, expenses incurred to get a mortgage are not deductible. They only increase your basis in the home you purchased.
- If it’s not a huge sum, the cost of repairs incurred is also deductible. But if the amount involves a huge sum, there are ways to go about it. One of them is by capitalizing the costs and depreciating them over the useful life
- For professionals and agents that are into full-time real estate, loss from rental properties can also be used to pay up ordinary income. However, this may not apply to you if you work a full-time job that is not in any way related to real estate. To learn more about other ways you can deduct, and how much, kindly contact us.
- Getting an LLC for your rental property is also a smart step to limit personal liability while you keep your personal and business expenses as two separate affairs as far as tax is concerned.
- If you live in some jurisdictions, you may also be liable to some local & state tangible property taxes.
- Income accruable from rentals can come under the 20% Qualified Business Income Deductions, in which case it will be deducted.
If you’re in need of more tax tips for landlords or professionals in the real estate industry, contact us. Rental properties are just another of our service offerings to our clients. On numerous collaborations, we have been able to develop personal and professional experience both for our clients and our personal rental income properties.
Multi-State Tax Returns
The feeling of being hit with a tax bill from two different states is right up there with a nightmare. We’ll help you avoid cases of double taxation in the following ways:
Allocation between states:
If you moved during the year, there is an option to allocate your income to each state to get you a clean cut-off of where your incomes should go. It’s a delicate balancing act, but if your W2 (or 1099) shows just one of the states or the wrong state, then we might need to resort to a combination of other alternatives like credit for tax remitted to other states and the state wage allocation method.
— Credit for tax paid to other states
If your reported income (W2) has already been taxed by another state, most of the states issue you some relief through some form of ‘credit’ for taxes you may have remitted to other states.
Only the most professional and sophisticated tax softwares have these features. So, if you’re in need of this, kindly reach out to us.
One thing you must consider is this: Once it’s clear that you earned income in SC (your source state) before driving back to your other place of residence in CA(your residence state), your taxes would be paid on your W2 to the income source state (SC).
However, there will be a credit on your CA return for the tax remitted to SC
Taking this route means you don’t get to pay tax twice (double taxation) to both states. Though there are a few states where this remedy doesn’t apply, if you’ve moved within the year, the residence state issuing the credit compels you to file a full-year return in the likely event that you will be requesting a credit.
Hence, we’re always super-creative with how the return is filed while also keeping an eye out for legal compliance boxes of state laws that must be ticked.
— State reciprocity agreements
Some states have reciprocity agreements like DC and VA, where you’re only required to file in the resident state. A few other examples of states having similar agreements with neighboring states are Indiana, Maryland, Arizona, and Illinois.
— Reverse Credit States
CA is a shiny example of states that issue reverse credits. So, residents of CA who work in OR would only remit the tax to their resident state instead of paying to the income source state.
If you’re in need of any of these services, let us know and we’ll help you with actionable insights and valuable advice.
Expat & International Taxation
Non-residents & Visa holders
With clients from over different countries, we are fluent in all main aspects of financial reporting. Navigating the financial reporting systems of these locations ensures a solid indication of our expertise in this area. Whether study, work (on a temporary basis), or permanent settlement, we are able to help you put your ducks in a row when it comes to your tax compliance.
These are our service areas:
- Application of tax treaty
- Dual Status returns
- Tax returns for visa holders
- We also help in the reporting of foreign gifts (or foreign transfers)
US Expats Living overseas
At the time of writing, our client database boasts a pool of American clients living in different countries. Here are a few of the ways we help US Expats living overseas
- Procuring of foreign tax credit (to abort double taxation on foreign income)
- The Exclusion of Foreign Earned Income (and to prevent American tax on foreign income)
- Reporting of foreign assets & investments
- Fixing returns that were not filed properly
- Streamlined procedures
- Forms 5471, 5472, 3520, 3520-A, 8865, 8938, etc.
Our team of experts – advising purely from experience and wealth of knowledge in this area can help you as an Expat benefit from tax solutions and reliefs available to you during your stay overseas.
IRS or State Letter
Letter from IRS or State
A letter from the IRS is one of those notices you get that blow sirens in one’s head. If this is you, don’t fret. If you’ve received a letter from the IRS or the state, chances are that you’ve been contacted because of one or more of the reasons are stated below:
Mistakes on your return
We’re all bound to make mistakes. If your income or payment information on your return doesn’t match the information on the IRS’s database, it triggers CP2000 or other notices that may be issued in such situations. Some of the common mistakes are:
— Missing 1099-K or 1099-MISC:
A lot of taxpayers running online businesses use platforms and fail to report their income on their return simply because the commercial activity they carried out was not profitable.
- It is immaterial to the IRS and State(s) that your business failed to make profits. Hence, you need to accordingly hint them about this by filing a schedule C together with your schedule of expenses.
- A failure to do this attracts the cautionary letter which mandates you to amend the return accordingly.
— Rollover or withdrawal from a 401k or IRA:
- These 1099-Rs also fall into the category of frequently missed information, just like K-1s, 1099-DIVs, and other forms.
Failure to file a return
What happens when you fail to file your tax return? The IRS or the state (s) sends these letters notifying you of your default.
Not only intentional tax defaulters, but the same is also especially true for business owners who are ignorant that they are required to file tax returns even if their business didn’t record any activity for the year. There is also an applicable penalty for late filing of tax returns based on zero activity.
If you happen to find yourself on the wrong side of these legislations, kindly reach out to us to get tailored solutions to avoid future complications.
Audit/request for more information
Sometimes, the information provided on your tax return might be vague, suspicious, or insufficient. In this case, the IRS asks for receipts or other applicable documents to help them clarify whatever concerns they might have.
It’s very common for the IRS to spot irregularities in the form of overreaching tax deductions during audits especially from Schedule C businesses (Sole Proprietors, freelancers, single-member LLCs)
If the IRS comes calling and you’re not sure how best to represent yourself, or you could do with some professional support for added protection, kindly contact us.