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Category: Tax Law

Want Your Charitable Deduction Back at Tax-Time? Push for Universal Charitable Deduction

Want Your Charitable Deduction Back at Tax-Time? Push for Universal Charitable Deduction

Any day now, Americans preparing their Forms 1040 are going to either learn or come face to face with a certain cold truth: their charitable deductions do them no good, tax-wise. (Unless they’re super rich, that is, but the super-rich don’t even prepare their own 1040s; their accountants will figure out the value of their gifts to nonprofit organizations.) It’s not that the charitable deduction is gone. The reason for this change is the doubling of the standard deduction that…

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Holiday Season 2018 to Test How Much Donors Are Motivated by Tax Deductions

Holiday Season 2018 to Test How Much Donors Are Motivated by Tax Deductions

End-of-year giving traditionally gives struggling nonprofits a way to make up for any lost ground and get a budgetary boost into the new year. Starting with Giving Tuesday (November 27 this year), the public is treated to, or annoyed by, a chorus of messages from needy nonprofits. Despite any annoyance, many generous people respond, such that approximately 30% of individual giving happens in December. We are weeks away, however, from what could be a seismic shift. The timing of holiday…

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Top Ten Nolo Articles for 2017

Top Ten Nolo Articles for 2017

Happy New Year! And now, for a quick look back at what Nolo’s online readers were putting first on their reading lists last year. Anyone notice any themes? The ones that seem to stand out are money, money, more money, the inevitable inquiries following the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and food. Let’s take a closer look, starting at the top. Will I Get Penalized for Working While Collecting Social Security Retirement? Looks like a lot of people either can’t give up the…

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IRS to Assess “Play or Pay” Penalties Against Employers for 2015

IRS to Assess “Play or Pay” Penalties Against Employers for 2015

Earlier this month, the IRS announced that it will be moving forward with issuing the first penalties against employers for failing to provide the health care coverage required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). For a time, it was unclear whether ACA employer penalties would be enforced. In early 2017, the President had issued an executive order directing federal agencies to minimize the “economic and regulatory burden” of the ACA. However, attempts by the President and members of Congress to…

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Losing the Home Office Space Means Losing the Tax Deduction, Too

Losing the Home Office Space Means Losing the Tax Deduction, Too

A recent article in Bloomberg reported that dedicated space for a home office is “less of a selling point” than it once was for home sellers. It’s appearing less often in real estate ads and marketing, and new-home developers are shifting toward open-floor plans containing flexible spaces, workspace nooks, and lots of handy electrical outlets. That’s all very well as a reflection of how modern connectivity allows many people to work from their sofa, in their pajamas, or at just…

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