Making Working from Home Work for You

With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, many more of us are working from home, and finding it brings new challenges such as having children under foot, creating a workable work space, and avoiding distractions. Here are a few tips to help with these issues.

Children: Set up a desk or desks for each child near your own desk. That way they can complete homework assignments or work on crafts such as coloring while still being nearby. When they aren’t “working” at their desks, you might consider using noise cancelling headphones to help maintain concentration while they play, watch TV, etc.

Workspace: If you are going to be working from home long term, invest in a real desk and some bins or other storage for office supplies. Set up your workspace in a room where you can dedicate either the entire room or a specific measurable portion of the room for … Read More

Need help organizing your financial documents?

If you don’t have a clear idea of how long you need to keep your various financial documents, you’re not alone. Many us of end up keeping everything, and the piles just keeping growing – sometimes at an alarming rate. Here is some guidance to help determine how long to keep your records.

Keep less than a year

  • Retain ATM, bank deposit and credit cards receipts until you reconcile them with your monthly statements. (Then you can shred them unless you need them to support your tax return.)
  • Insurance policies and investments statements should be retained until you receive updated documents.

Keep for a year or longer

  • Retain loan documents until the loan is paid off.
  • Car titles should be retained until you sell the vehicle.
  • For stocks, bonds and mutual funds, keep purchase confirmations so you can establish your cost basis and holding period.

Keep for seven years

  • Keep all
… Read More

NOL (Net Operating Loss) Rules Changes

The CARES Act made three changes to Net Operating Losses (NOLs) to improve cash flow for struggling businesses:

  • Provided a five-year carryback for losses earned in 2018, 2019, or 2020, which allows firms to modify tax returns up to five years prior to offset taxable income from those tax years.
  • Suspended the NOL limit of 80 percent of taxable income. This means that firms may deduct their NOLs to eliminate all of their taxable income in a given year, instead of having to carry forward any NOL beyond 80 percent of taxable income.
  • Pass-through business owners may use NOLs to offset their non-business income above the previous limit of $250,000 (single) or $500,000 (married filing jointly) for 2018, 2019, and 2020.

The IRS has also granted a six-month extension of time to file Form 1045 or Form 1139, as applicable, with respect to the carryback of an NOL that arose in … Read More