Donald Trump's touted tariff Liberation Day turned into a dark day after for U.S. investors. (Autopilot via Wikimedia) How are my fellow investors doing this day after Liberation Day? Yeah, I thought so. When the markets opened today, we got to see the real time reaction to Donald Trump’s expansive round of tariffs he announced late Monday, April 2, afternoon. It wasn’t pretty. The global trade move sparked a Wall Street dive to its worst day in five years. That prior low also was under a Trump presidency, as we were starting to feel the initial economic effects of the... Read more →
Economy
Photo by cottonbro studio All of us with older cars, but not enough to buy a newer one right now, are watching Donald J. Trump's latest tariff move. What he sees at Liberation Day on April 3, could mean we drivers are stuck dealing with aging autos for a bit longer. Trump's convinced that his latest trade war volley, a 25 percent tariff on foreign-made vehicles and parts, will lead to a fundamental transformation of the U.S. economy. A lot of people, both economic experts and U.S. consumers agree, but not in the same positive reconfiguration that the 47th president... Read more →
Photo by Ksenia Chernaya While doing my weekly grocery shopping every Tuesday morning, I tend to encounter the same folks, both H-E-B employees and other customers. This week, though, a woman I hadn’t seen before made an impression. I dubbed her the Egg Crier, since she posted herself by the store section holding those products. And in her best town crier form, she personally informed every shopper who picked up a carton — and all those even remotely close to the area — of the cost, noting with some exasperation the current high prices. The dozen Grade A large white... Read more →
Working from home is a convenience employees don't want to surrender, according to recent poll. Conducting business from your home is still an option is you're self-employed, and you also might be able to claim the home office tax deduction. Working from home has its own unique distractions, but almost half of employees who do their job from their homes say they would quit rather than return to a full 40 hours a week in their offices. (Photo by Ketut Subiyanto) Among the slew of presidential actions taken by Donald J. Trump since his return this week to the Oval... Read more →
Giving the perfect Christmas gift for your true love can be better than receiving a present. It also can be costly if you use "The 12 Days of Christmas" lyrics as your shopping list! Stubborn inflation means a costlier holiday season. That’s especially true of Christmas gift givers who follow the True Love shopping list in the classic carol The Twelve Days of Christmas. The 41st annual PNC Bank Christmas Price Index® (PNC CPI), which is based on a whimsical tabulation of the price to gift all dozen items in the song, rose 5.4 percent. That’s double last year's 2.7... Read more →
On Oct. 10, Social Security recipients got the annual word on how their benefits will change in the coming year. It was not exactly the news many had hoped to hear. The 2.5 percent increase for 2025 for around 68 million retirees and disabled workers who receive Social Security payments was one of the lowest in recent years. Recipients’ grumbling about the 2025 increase also were likely influenced by this year’s 3.2 percent hike, and the 8.7 percent boost in 2023 when inflation was at an historic level. Fixed-income folks also are still worried about inflation. Although it has eased,... Read more →
The coming wage base bump also means more FICA taxes for higher earners. Running the numbers is important for everyone, but critical for older folks who rely on Social Security benefits, and the annual cost-of-living increases, to cover much of their expenses. (Photo by Getty Images via Unsplash) There’s some good news for the more than 72.5 million recipients of Social Security payments. The Social Security Administration (SSA) today announced they’ll soon see an increase in their retirement and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. Nearly 68 million retirees who receive monthly Social Security deposits will see a 2.5 percent cost-of-living... Read more →
Even the Internal Revenue Service has acknowledged the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claim process has been beleaguered by fraud and abuse. That’s why the tax agency stopped accepting new ERC filings last year, and has focused on working through existing claims. While some ERC claimants have received tax credit money for keeping staff on payroll during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, others are getting bad news from the IRS. Their ERC claims have been denied. The unwelcome word is arriving as IRS Letter 105-C. The mailed correspondence means the IRS has found the claim ineligible, and has disallowed, or... Read more →
Labor Day isn't a holiday for some workers. They are on the job helping customers. (Photo by Ron Lach) Happy Labor Day! This holiday, which we celebrate with a three-day weekend, was created in the late 1800s to “recognize the many contributions workers have made to America’s strength, prosperity, and well-being.” States were the first to officially adopt the holiday. New York led the way as the first state to introduce a bill, but Oregon was the first to pass a law, on February 21, 1887, recognizing Labor Day. That year, four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and... Read more →
Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential nominee, revealed some of her economic plans in a speech Friday, Aug. 16, in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Screenshot of X-Twitter video) Vice President Kamala Harris rolled out her presidential campaign’s economic proposals Friday in a roughly half-hour speech in Raleigh, North Carolina. They included a federal ban on alleged corporate price gouging on food products, ways to help people buy their first home, and financial help for families. Much of Harris’ assistance would come from tax breaks, some of them familiar fiscal tools, both enacted or previously proposed by the Biden Administration. New tax... Read more →
In addition to moving more valid Employee Retention Credit (ERC) payments through the system, the Internal Revenue Service says it has stopped $5 billion invalid claims of the business tax credit. The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) saga continues, this time with some good news for businesses awaiting the benefits of the tax credit. The ERC was created in 2020 to help businesses and their staff stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. But a rash of recent claims, many of them questionable filings encouraged by aggressive ERC promoters, created problems for the Internal Revenue Service and legitimate claimants. The IRS instituted... Read more →
When the COVID-19 pandemic was at its worst in 2020 and 2021, Uncle Sam offered help to businesses who kept workers on payroll. But the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), like many tax benefits, was complicated. That's led to wrong claims, so the IRS is asking companies to review their claims, both filed or about to be submitted. The Internal Revenue Service says another major announcement about the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), the tax break created to help companies weather the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic challenges, is on the way. But until then, the agency is urging businesses to re-evaluate their filings.... Read more →
This street art in Barcelona, Spain, isn't exactly what tourists want to see when they visit the capital of Catalonia. Public sentiment against the crush of tourists has prompted the city to seek an increase in its tax on cruise passengers who disembark in the Mediterranean Sea metropolis. (Photo by Mattsjc via Wikimedia Commons) COVID-19 literally is in the rear-view mirror for millions of travelers. After a rush to see new places and revisit old favorites as soon as coronavirus restrictions eased, travel now is returning to pre-pandemic normal. Customers are going back to basics, looking for, as they did... Read more →
A view of some of the vast acreage of Big Bend National Park in Brewster County, Texas. (Photo by Kay Bell) This summer, millions of people will visit national parks, forests, and wilderness areas. While the folks who live in near those sites appreciate the associated increase in the local economy, they also pay a price. Land owned by the federal government is generally not subject to taxation by state or local governments. But those jurisdictions still cover services for the tax-exempt U.S. acreage within their borders. Much of the expense is borne by counties that pay for road upkeep,... Read more →
Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) was created to help businesses stay afloat and keep staff on the payroll during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Basically, this tax credit’s benefits — thousands of dollars per employee that eligible companies kept paying — were for the 2020 and 2021 tax years. It has turned into a major tax headache, for both businesses and the Internal Revenue Service. But, says the IRS, it has made progress on evaluating the plethora of claims filed after the pandemic’s peak. And it has some good news for small businesses... Read more →
Photo by Amina Filkins If National Small Business Week has you thinking about starting your own company, congratulations. You’ll be joining a growing sector of the U.S. economy. The Small Business Administration (SBA) describes a small business as one with fewer than 500 employees. That covers enterprises from one-person shops to manufacturing facilities with hundreds of workers. The U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Dynamics Statistics indicate there were 5,358,600 firms that met that definition in 2021, the latest year for complete data. That was an increase from 5,322,155 in 2020. But small really is key here. County Business Patterns (CBP) data... Read more →
Photo by Joshua Rodriguez on Unsplash It’s National Small Business Week 2024! Technically, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s annual recognition event started yesterday, Sunday, April 28. The kick-off yesterday of this year's National Small Business Week (NSBW) included an awards ceremony where this year’s National Small Business Person of the Year and runner-up were named, along with the Small Business Persons of the Year from each state, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The event, with a theme this year of Building on America’s Small Business Boom, continues through Saturday, May 4. Your small business taxes: The full... Read more →
Elizabeth Magie portrait over her The Landlord’s Game board. (Photo: Wednesday’s Women) Rent or buy? Taxes are a part of the equation when making that crucial property decision. Taxes, or rather a specific type of tax, also was the impetus for a real-estate-based board game that morphed into (or, some would say, was appropriated by) what we now know as Monopoly. The game of property purchases and their rental rates when placed on prime gameboard landmarks has remained popular since its launch in 1933, thanks in part to hundreds of licensed spinoffs. And while Charles Darrow, an unemployed salesman in... Read more →
The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) helped many companies keep workers during the difficult COVID-19 pandemic days. But some ERC claims wrong, and the IRS is successfully recouping some of those incorrectly claimed and/or issued funds. The Internal Revenue Service closed out its Employee Retention Credit (ERC) Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) on Friday, March 22, on a high note. Going into the day, the VDP, which allowed those who got improper ERC payments to pay back most of the money, had produced more than $225 million from 500+ taxpayers. Another 800 submissions were still being processed, and even more being filed... Read more →
Are you having second thoughts about an ERC claim your company made? It so, it's time to review your records, and if you find you received an incorrect tax credit amount, let the IRS know by this Friday, March 22. (Photo by Henri Mathieu-Saint-Laurent) With the deadline to let the Internal Revenue Service know you got an improper Employee Retention Credit (ERC) fast approaching — it's this Friday, March 22 — business owners who are concerned need to act fast. Recipients of wrong payments can apply for the IRS' ERC Voluntary Disclosure Program by that deadline. If accepted, the businesses... Read more →