Sandra Gossett, CPA Taxing Times 5.0

12/29/2025

A new year, a new experiment. Happy New Year!

03/17/2021

If you have questions about when you will get the stimulus check or how much you received in previous checks, check out this website.

Use Get My Payment to get information about your payment status and payment type.

01/05/2021

Check your bank. You might have gotten your $600 Stimulus check. Too early to worry if you didn't get one yet, but they are being deposited.

01/05/2021

Standard Mileage Rate for business use of a car, van, pickup truck, or panel truck, the rate for 2021 will be 56 cents per mile after decreasing to 57.5 cents per mile in 2020.

11/29/2020

Giving Tuesday is coming up and many nonprofits will benefit from your gifts. I know you give because you are generous. But you might be interested in knowing, that the tax rules for 2020 allow you to deduct $300 from your income even if you don't itemize thus lowering your tax bill. These gifts need to be cash, check, debit, credit card, etc. They can't be stock. For corporations, gifts are not limited to 10% of taxable income. They can give up to 25%. Individuals are not limited to 60% of adjusted gross income. For this year, you can give up to 100% of adjusted gross income. (Apparently some people can do that.) So give as you can. There is much need in the world.

08/31/2020

Remember back in the day on August 8th and the president signed an order that was going to give everyone a payroll tax break. On Friday the IRS issued guidance. Notice 2020-65 is the number if you want to read it.
First the payroll tax is not forgiven or reduced. It is deferred. The tax that is deferred is the employee portion of F**A or the 6.2% of gross payroll. The deferral does not include the self-employed and it does not include the employer. Persons who receive a gross payroll of $4000 biweekly cannot be included in the deferral. If the gross amount is variable, then the payroll (F**A) tax can be deferred on those gross amounts less than $4000.
The plan is to forego withholding the employee portion of F**A (6.2%) beginning on September 1 through December 31st. Then on January 1 through April 30, 2021 the employer would withhold that deferred amount plus the usual amount or 12.4% from each payroll check.
The person responsible for depositing the payroll taxes (the employer) is responsible for paying this deferred amount to the government. They can collect from an employee who has left but regardless they are responsible for the payment. As you can see this could be a problem especially if you have temporary employees.
I understand that Treasury Secretary Mnuchin wanted to make this an optional program but that didn’t make the notice. What I have read implies that it is optional, but I expect further guidance.
Watch for further developments, but tomorrow is September 1. If you pay on the first, you will have to decide to opt in or out. I am wondering how the payroll companies are going to handle it.
Another thing, the President can’t forgive this. Congress can and perhaps he can persuade them to forgive it. Who knows?

THIS FOR INFORMATION ONLY.

05/11/2020

IRS urges taxpayers to enter information at “Get My Payment” website by noon on Wednesday, May 13 to receive CARES ACT stimulus payments by direct deposit.
The IRS announced that taxpayers for whom the Service does not have direct deposit information should go to its “Get My Payment” website and enter that information by noon on Wednesday, May 13, so they can receive their stimulus payments electronically. Go to IRS.gov and click on "Get My Payment." You will see the status of your payment. I couldn't test it because I already got my payment, but if you haven't or you need to change your bank info, give it a try.

04/28/2020

Oh, NO! A notice from the IRS! Don't be alarmed. If you received a stimulus check, you will get a notice explaining
the check. It is Notice 1444 (EN-SP).

04/14/2020

April 15th is coming but the CARES act postponed filing your 1040 and
paying taxes or estimated taxes until July 15th.
Breathe!

03/31/2020

As a small business owner you will want to look at the Payroll Protection loan. It was meant to help keep people working and if the money is used as required to pay employees and some other expenses the loan can be forgiven. As always there are rules and you would want to follow them so the loan would be forgiven. Make an appointment with your banker and get in line.

Nonprofits and small businesses can apply for this government-backed loan to help keep their people employed during the pandemic. Read this for information about how it works and how to apply.