The Small Business Tax Help Blog

Posts Tagged ‘income’

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HMRC Guide: Self-Employed Childminders

Question: What proof do I need for FAFSA verification?

I am being asked to show proof of a certain amount reported on ‘worksheet A’. I am a dependent student and my mother filled out her income tax reports. The only amount on worksheet A is the EIC (Earned Income Credit). I already gave provided them with a copy of the income tax reports. What documents do they need to provide proof of this?
P.S. She has no W2 forms

Answer: You need to read the notification that you received carefully, because your school has set out exactly what information they need and what they’re willing to accept.

FAFSAs are selected for verification by the Department of Education, but they simply notify the school that your FAFSA was selected, and it becomes the school’s responsibility to actually complete the verification.

The Department provides all schools with a “recommended” worksheet for verification and they offer suggestions of how a school might complete the process, but each school is free to verify more information than the Department requests, and to establish their own procedures for doing a verification, as long as those procedures are “reasonable” and “consistently applied”.

For questions of income and taxes, the Department of Education recommends that schools request documentation of IRS forms (a tax transcript is acceptable as a substitute for the actual form), W-2s, Form 4868, or a signed statement from the filer of the return. The Department tells the schools that they must require that these tax documents be signed by the tax preparer.

Again, though – it’s important that you follow the specific instructions that were provided by your school’s financial aid office, because they are the ones who have established the verification procedure. If you’re not clear on what forms of documentation they will accept, you should contact the financial aid office and clarify that information.

Good luck to you – I hope that helped.

Question: Where can I find an income Tax Withholding calculator specific to my state, similar to the IRS calculator?

I check my federal Tax Withholding amount to date against the IRS calculator every so often to make sure I am paying only a little more than I need to so I’m not loaning the fed. government tons of money.

I would like to be able to check my state withholding to make sure I am not over paying that as well.
I can’t seem to find a reliable source.

I have found some tables, but they don’t take several variables into account. I looked at this weeks pay stub and feel like I have probably payed my state taxes for the year, the payroll dept. has me claiming zero allowances lol. So I have already given the state several thousand dollars.

I know approximately how much I will make this year and would like to figure out if I have given the state enough of my money.

Answer: I would suggest you read Pub 15, page 35, 36 and so on… to understand how they calculate your withholding.

1/- For example:

You are single, zero allowance, weekly paycheck.

You have 800.00 gross pay every week.

Look at page 36, table 1, you income falls into $704 ——— $1,648

So then your withholding :

$91.40 + 25% ( 800 – 704 )

$91.40 + 25% * 96.00 = $91.40 + $24.00 = $115.40, this is your withholding.

Or you could look at page 39, there are more tables for you.

Here it is :

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15.pdf

This is for Federal withholding only, no State, sorry!

2/- Another way is this web site : www.paycheckcity.com, I have believed you knew it from this forum. You can try both ways to see which one is the right answer. You can have State withholding in here too.
State withholding is always different, each State has its own way to calculate, it is not general like Federal. I hope someone will show you another website.

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Senate Session 2011-03-09 (15:15:48-17:00:18)

Question: Misc. Business Tax Questions… (Tax Home, Record Keeping)?

Can I deduct 50% of my meals if I’m in town if the dinner was a business dinner? I couldn’t find much on the IRS website. I’ve been told about a 50 mile rule before, but this isn’t ‘just eating’ its business related.

Also, this is what the IRS website says about records for expenses:

“Expenses are the costs you incur (other than purchases) to carry on your business. Your supporting documents should show the amount paid and that the amount was for a business expense. Documents for expenses include the following:

Canceled checks
Cash register tapes
Account statements
Credit card sales slips
Invoices
Petty cash slips for small cash payments”

Does “Account statements” mean my banking account/credit card statements? I lose all of my hotel receipts when I’m out of town, but I have a clear entry on my bank statement that has the name of the hotel and city.

Thanks!

Answer: Yes, you can deduct 50% of business Meals & Entertainment expense.

There are two tests that a business meal has to pass.

1) It must be “ordinary” and “necessary”
2) It must be either “directly related” to or “associated with” the business.

You probably won’t be able to write-off the $3,000 bottle of champaign at lunch… but a more reasonable lunch will probably pass muster. As long as it also passes the second rule, which is that you’ve gotta have a business reason for the lunch.

There’s a nice discussion of those concepts at the website below.

You do need good records. In addition to the receipts (a credit card statement would be ok for a receipt) it’s a good idea to have notes in your business planner, or some other place, that shows the business purpose of the meeting/meal that you are claiming. In the event of an audit, you’ll need to show the date, place, amount, business purpose of the expense, and the business relationship of the person(s) being entertained. The first three (date, place and amount) can be shown on your credit card statement. The last two will need to be recorded somewhere else.

I hope that helps.

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