Schaaf CPA Group LLC

A Roth IRA is one of the best wealth transfer vehicles available: You contribute money, that money grows, you never have to take the money out while you are alive, you die and your spouse doesn’t have to take money out and the money continues to grow, then your kids have 10 years to drain the account after your spouse dies. This means that the $7K you contributed this year might be able to grow 50 years AND all of the growth is tax-free.

Purchase a fixer-upper and live in the house for 2 years before selling. Up to $500,000 of the gain is tax free. Repeat every 2 years.

If you have a child in college, then contribute $5K to the Indiana CollegeChoice 529, and then turn around and put that money back into your personal checking account. You don’t need to leave the 529 funds in the 529 to get the $1K Indiana tax credit (i.e., save $1K of Indiana tax each year you do this).

You can receive up to a $200 credit on your Indiana state return. Contributions include the $25 Group Fee for a Indiana College vehicle license plate.

These improvements include water heaters, HVAC systems, windows, exteriors doors, etc. You can receive up to a $500 credit on your federal tax return from these improvements.

There are many tricks (or combination of tricks) to make sure that the college expense produces tax savings:
• Take the AOC or LLC college credit up to $2,500
• Deduct the tuition and fees
• Don’t claim the child as a dependent and let the child claim himself and take the AOC credit
• Make a portion of the child’s scholarships taxable on child’s return to “free up” tuition for the AOC credit
• Withdraw college funds from your Traditional IRA and avoid the 10% early withdrawal penalty
• Contribute $5K to the Indiana 529 and then turn around and withdraw it to pay for college and save $1K in tax
• Hire the child in your corporation and deduct his or her tuition

Non-itemizers (i.e. most people) can now deduct $300 of charitable contributions (of money only) on their 2020 tax return even if they don’t itemize.

The stimulus you already received was really a pre-payment of a 2020 tax credit. When we prepare your 2020 tax return, we calculate the total 2020 stimulus tax credit based on your 2020 tax information (income, dependents, etc) and then subtract what you have already received. If you are due more stimulus, you get it with your 2020 tax return (in the form of an increased refund). If you have received too much stimulus pre-payment, then you don’t have to pay any of the overage back to the government. Be sure to tell us the exact amount of stimulus that you have already received so that we can correctly calculate how much additional stimulus you may be owed

If you earn over $206K, then you can not directly contribute new money to a Roth IRA. You might be able to “backdoor” the contribution though. If you don’t have pre-tax money in a Traditional IRA, then: 1. Create a Traditional IRA and make “nondeductible” contributions (up to $7,000). 2. Convert the nondeductible Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.

If so, it may be an opportune time to convert some or all of your Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. Once converted to a Roth your investment will grow tax-fee. If you have a Traditional IRA with a relatively large balance, a full conversion could push you into a higher tax bracket. If that’s the case, spread your conversion across 2020 and 2021 to save on the amount of taxes you’ll have to pay.

Most employees incur expenses to do their jobs.  You might drive for your job or use your cell phone or home internet or maintain a home office.  You, as an employee, have no way to deduct these un-reimbursed expenses on your individual tax return (those deductions go wasted).  Instead, consider asking your employer to replace part of your wage with an expense reimbursement.  Example:  If you earn $50,000 and incur $5,000 of un-reimbursed expenses (driving, cell phone, internet, supplies, home office), then you pay FICA tax and income tax on $50,000.  If you ask your employer to instead pay you $45,000 as a wage and $5,000 of reimbursement, then you now pay FICA tax and income tax on $45,000 even though you are still being paid $50,000…saving you $1,200 of tax/year.

If you are over age 72 then you are forced to withdrawal money from your IRA each year and include that amount in your taxable income.  Most retirees don’t itemize since their itemized deductions (state and local taxes, mortgage interest, and donations) don’t exceed the $27,400 standard deduction – thus their donations don’t save them any tax.  The solution:  If you donate to charity directly from your IRA, then you don’t have to include that donated amount as income on your tax return…so in a round-about way, you get to deduct that donation (i.e., your taxable income doesn’t include the amount you donated to charity directly from your IRA).

If you were unable to work in your normally-profitable self-employed business due to practically almost any COVID-related reason, you can save up to 5K of tax.  If you couldn’t work in your self-employed business because you had to take care of your children or another dependent, then you can save up to 10K of additional tax (on top of the 5K).  Call us for details – there is math involved.

The FFCRA provides for sick leave and family leave refundable credits against the self-employment tax. The sick leave credit provision for self-employed individuals allows an income tax credit for a qualified sick leave equivalent amount. The qualified sick leave equivalent amount equals the number of days (up to 10) that the self-employed individual can’t perform services and would have been entitled to receive paid sick leave under the EPSLA if he were an employee, multiplied by the lesser of two amounts, based on the circumstance of the leave. The credit is limited to the lesser of 100% of average daily self-employment income, or $511 per day if the self-employed individual is (1) subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19; (2) advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to coronavirus concerns; or (3) experiencing coronavirus symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis. The credit is limited to the lesser of 67% of average daily self-employment income, or $200 per day for a self-employed individual who is caring for another individual described in item 1 or 2, caring for a son or daughter whose school or place of care is closed or child care provider is unavailable, or because the self-employed individual is experiencing a “substantially similar condition” specified by the government. The family leave credit provision for self-employed individuals allows an income tax credit for a qualified family leave equivalent amount. The qualified family leave equivalent amount equals the number of days (up to 50) that the self-employed individual can’t perform services and would have been entitled to receive paid leave under the EFMLEA if he were an employee, multiplied by the lesser of 67% of average daily self-employment income, or $200. The credits for self-employed individuals apply only to days occurring during the period beginning on April 1, 2020.

If you have a business loss in 2018, 2019, or 2020, you can now carry-back that loss up to 5 previous years to offset income in those previous years (i.e. apply for a refund of tax paid).