With the close of 2018, we begin to look ahead to 2019 and ensuring that we set ourselves up for a good tax outcome at year end. There are many things to consider as you move through the tax year and some require pre-planning to ensure maximum benefit.
Vehicle purchases are one of the largest expenses for most families. With an increase in people choosing to lease instead of buy, what are the differences? As with most decisions in life, taxes should only be one of the considerations. A few of the non-tax considerations on buying or leasing a business vehicle: number of miles you drive each year, how long you keep a car, how much do you want to spend on your monthly payments?
For most standard wage earners, preparing for your tax filing is fairly simple. You receive a Form W2 in the mail and unless you have other rental properties or other complications, your return is relatively straightforward. But for the freelancer, things aren’t quite as simple.
In 1993, then President Bill Clinton sought to find a support system to aid the rapid growth in the workforce, which was increasingly made up of women with families. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed “to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families.” This Act allowed both women and men to participate in work, but also protect them if a medical need arose. Under this Federal Act, employers with fifty of more employees were required to provide up to twelve weeks to attend to serious health conditions of the employee, a parent, spouse or child. It also provided for pregnancy and care of a newborn, adopted child or foster child. In order to qualify, the employee needed to have worked in the business for at least twelve month and worked at least 1,250 hours over the past twelve months. (In 2008, different requirements and time periods were given to active duty families. This leave was unpaid leave, and merely protected the employee’s right to benefits during the leave and return to their job or one of equal level, compensation and benefits. Note that highly compensated employees have more limited rights when it comes to FMLA.