How the government shutdown affects your taxes.

government shutdown

Update: The IRS has announced that the tax season will begin January 28, 2019 to start filing your 2018 tax returns!

Did you try calling the IRS?

Many taxpayers are confused as to how the government shutdown will affect the 2019 tax season. If you pick up the phone and contact the IRS, you’ll receive a short message instead of the typical menu. “Welcome to the IRS. Live telephone assistance is not available at this time. Normal operations will resume as soon as possible,” is what you hear when you call their toll free number.

Overall, this means that all IRS offices are closed because of the government shutdown. Read on to find out what you need to know for this tax season.

First off, what does “government shutdown” mean?

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How the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Affects Businesses

business taxes

The upcoming tax year brings in a lot of changes for self-employed and business taxpayers.

Taxpayers with sole proprietorship, partnerships, trusts, and S corporations will face some difficulties when they’re ready to file for the 2019 tax season because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

Read below for the changes you need to know for your business taxes.

Here’s what qualifies as business income.

In order to have qualified business income (QBI), it must be domestic income from a trade or business. Your qualified business income (QBI) is calculated into a net amount and does not include employee wages, capital gain, interest and dividend income.

The maximum deduction increases.

Prior to the TCJA, you could deduct up to $500,000 for any section 179 property. It has now increased to $1 million. The phase-out threshold also increases from $2 million to $2.5 million. (Subject to change due to inflation.)

The new 20% deduction.

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Am I Still Required to File A Past State Tax Return?

states with no income tax

Don’t worry about filing a past state tax return if you belong to one of these as your resident state.

The U.S. states that do not have income taxes are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. However, just because you don’t need to pay income tax, doesn’t mean a state is any cheaper to live in. In order to maintain state revenue, states with no income tax rely on other uses of taxes such as estate, property, sales, excise, gift taxes and more.

For example, here are a few ways each state maintains their state revenue:

  • Alaska depends on estate, excise, gift and severance taxes
  • Florida depends on property, sales, and corporate income taxes
  • Nevada; being a tourist attraction, depends on fees, gambling taxes, and high sales taxes
  • South Dakota taxes property, alcoholic beverages and cigarettes
  • Texas depends on high use, sales and property taxes
  • Washington depends on business, occupation and sales taxes
  • Wyoming depends on taxing property and businesses

Unlike the seven states above, New Hampshire and Tennessee do not have personal income taxes but still taxes specific types of income. New Hampshire doesn’t have sales tax, or inheritance tax but it does tax interest and dividends. Tennessee does not have estate and inheritance tax but taxes dividends and interest due to its Hall Tax.

Have you forgotten to file a state return or two?

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