| Taxation of Personal Service Corporations |
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| Although most corporations are entitled to calculate their tax using graduated rates, there is an exception for "qualified personal service" corporations, which are subject to a flat tax rate of 35 percent. A corporation is a qualified personal service corporation if it meets certain tests. More... |
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| Equipment Leases - Should They Be Depreciated or Expensed |
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| You are leasing a large piece of equipment for use in your business. As you are preparing your income tax return, you wonder whether the total cost of the monthly lease payments can be taken as rent expense or whether you have to allocate the cost of the equipment over its estimated useful life (called depreciation). If you had purchased the equipment, you know that the Internal Revenue Code would generally require depreciation. More... |
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| Health Savings Accounts |
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| In an attempt to deal with the high cost of medical care in the United States, Congress has passed a tax law allowing certain taxpayers to set up a health savings account (HSA), a tax-exempt trust or custodial account for the payment or reimbursement of medical expenses. More... |
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| Use Tax |
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| States that impose a sales tax on the sale of tangible personal property or services frequently impose a use tax for the privilege of using, storing, or consuming goods or services within the state. Goods become taxable upon delivery to the buyer within the taxing state and after the buyer's use of the goods begins. The use tax is a non-recurrent tax; thus, once paid, an owner can use the goods repeatedly. It is usually imposed on the purchaser, user, or consumer of goods and services. More... |
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| Miscellaneous Itemized Deductions |
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| Although the Internal Revenue Code does not allow taxpayers to deduct certain employee expenses directly from gross income, it does permit the taxpayer to reduce adjusted gross income by treating them as itemized deductions. In deciding whether to itemize deductions, a taxpayer should determine if all of his or her itemized deductions exceed the applicable standard deduction. More... |
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