Should you “bunch” medical expenses into 2015?
Medical expenses that aren’t reimbursable by insurance or paid through a tax-advantaged account (such as a Health Savings Account or Flexible Spending Account) may be deductible
News & Tech Tips
Business Vehicles: Sell or Trade In?
Although a vehicle’s value typically drops fairly rapidly, the tax rules limit the amount of annual depreciation that can be claimed on most cars and light trucks…
Should you contribute more to your 401(k) in 2015?
Contributing to a traditional employer-sponsored defined contribution plan, such as a 401(k), 403(b) or 457 plan, offers many benefits:
- Contributions are pretax, reducing your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), which can also help you reduce or avoid exposure to the 3.8% net investment income tax.
- Plan assets can grow tax-deferred — meaning you pay no income tax until you take distributions.
- Your employer may match some or all of your contributions pretax.
For 2015, you can contribute up to $18,000. If your current contribution rate will leave you short of the limit, consider increasing your contribution rate through the end of the year. Because of tax-deferred compounding, boosting contributions sooner rather than later can have a significant impact on the size of your nest egg at retirement.
If you’ll be age 50 or older by December 31, you can also make “catch-up” contributions (up to $6,000 for 2015). So if you didn’t contribute much when you were younger, this may allow you to partially make up for lost time. Even if you did make significant contributions before age 50, catch-up contributions can still be beneficial, allowing you to further leverage the power of tax-deferred compounding.
Have questions about how much to contribute? Contact Whalen & Company. We’d be pleased to discuss the tax and retirement-saving considerations with you.
Copyright 2015 Thomson Reuters
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Chip-Enabled Credit Cards: Is Your Business Prepared?
To combat the growing issue of credit card fraud, U.S. financial institutions are issuing EMV-chip-enabled credit cards that make it harder for thieves to steal credit card information. With this effort comes a “liability shift” that went into effect on October 1, 2015. Financial institutions will no longer bear the burden of fraudulent credit card charges, instead moving that responsibility to retailers who have not upgraded to EMV payment terminals to process chip-enabled credit cards.