DiFatta & Associates

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Some good news: News Alert: US tax filing deadline moved to July 15, Mnuchin says Americans will have an additional three months to file their taxes amid the coronavirus pandemic, the US treasury secretary said on Friday.... "We are moving Tax Day from April 15 to July 15," Secretary Steven Mnuchin wrote on Twitter. "All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties

2020 Standard Mileage Rates Beginning on January 1, 2020, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car, van, pickup or panel truck will be: 57.5 cents per mile for business miles driven (down from 58 cents in 2019) 17 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes (down from 20 cents in 2019)

Independent Contractor vs. Employee - Interesting Read!! from: The General Ledger digital newsletter This worker set his own hours and worked unsupervisedyet was still classified by the IRS as an employee.... The case: M worked for a company moving its equipment to different sites, setting it up and maintaining it and training company employees to use it. He had no direct supervision and set his own hours, which varied depending on the work he had to do. He worked at a number of the company’s sites, and was away from home more than 200 nights a year. He was not reimbursed for his travel expenses or for the cost of repairing equipment damaged in transit. M filed a Schedule C with his tax returns, claiming he was an independent contractor. The IRS changed his tax returns, treating him as an employee, and the case ended up in court. The ruling: For the IRS. Although the taxpayer set his own hours and worked without supervision, his work relationship had more indications of employee status than IC status. The employer asserted control over him by requiring daily reports of his work and logs of equipment location, and dictated where he would work and work to be done at each site. Although the taxpayer was responsible for many of his own expenses, he did not own or lease the very costly equipment essential to the work. He’d had no other employer for a number of years and had no other employers or clients during this period, and the current one could terminate him at any time. [McGuigan v. Comm., T.C. Summ. Op. 2019-27]

Happy New Year!! VITA - Voluntary Income Tax Assistance Program at College of the Canyons. Follow Link: https://www.canyons.edu/academ/schools/business//index.php

On July 1st there were a number of California cities, in addition to unincorporated LA County, that will see an increase in their minimum wage. The new rates are as follows: Alameda - $13.50 Berkeley - $15.59 Emeryville - $16.30... Fremont (26 or more employees)- $13.50 Los Angeles (25 or fewer) - $13.25 Los Angeles (26 or more) - $14.25 Unincorporated L.A. County (25 or fewer) - $13.25 Unincorporated L.A. County (26 or more) - $14.25 Malibu (25 or fewer) - $13.25 Malibu (26 or more) - $14.25 Milpitas - $15.00 Pasadena (25 or fewer) - $13.25 Pasadena (26 or more) - $14.25 San Francisco - $15.59 San Leandro - $14.00 Santa Monica (25 or fewer) - $13.25 Santa Monica (26 or more) - $14.25 See more

Record-keeping Tips for Small Business Owners The key to avoiding headaches at tax time is keeping track of your receipts/records throughout the year. Whether you use an excel spreadsheet, an app, an online system or keep your receipts organized in a folding file organized by month, good record-keeping will help you remember the various transactions you made during the year. Normally, tax records should be kept for three years, but some documents - such as records relating to... a home purchase or sale, stock transactions, IRA, and business or rental property - should be kept longer. Generally speaking, however, you should keep any and all documents that may have an impact on your federal tax return including but not limited to: Bills Credit card and other receipts Invoices Mileage logs Canceled, imaged, or substitute checks or any other proof of payment Any other records to support deductions or credits you claim on your return Good record-keeping throughout the year saves you time and effort at tax time. For more information on what kinds of records you should keep or assistance on setting up a record-keeping system that works for you, please call the office. See more

PASSWORDS Recommendations for passwords (PWs) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have changed. Gone are the days of numbers, symbols, upper- and lower-case letters, length, and avoiding real words or numbers identified with the user. The new recommendations. A password still should be long but should be a phrase, sentence or series of associated words. For example, it might be a line from a movie or song that includes upper- and lowercase letters ...and that has some vowels or small words dropped in. An example from the IRS: SunWalkRainDrive. NIST believes such phrases are easier for you to remember because they are familiar. So, you may be less tempted to write it down in an easily accessible place and, at the same time, it is hard for a crook to crack. NIST recommends these steps for creating passwords: Step 1. Leverage your power of association by using items that have meaning to you. Step 2. Use associations unique to you. Passphrases should be words that can go together in your head but not in anyone else’s heade.g., items in your living room, such as BlueCouchFlowerBamboo. Avoid items others could guess, such as your kids’ names. Step 3. Create a passphrase you can picture, such as the example above of items in your living room. The IRS recommends using PWs for your desktop software as well as your online accounts. Use a different PW for each account or program. Managing PWs is easier with a password manager program. Better yet: multifactor authentication, when available. This might include a fingerprint or code texted from your cellphone to allow access.

Reminder... Business Tax Registration Renewal is Due February 28, 2019! For all businesses that conduct business within the City of Los Angeles, it is time to submit your Business Tax Renewal Form. The filing period ends February 28, 2019. All registered businesses are required to submit this form, even if no taxes are owed. You may qualify for an exemption, especially if you are a new business or small business.... Four Way to Renew: 1. Online at https://latax.lacity.org/laweb/F-logon.jsp 2. Mail-in forms must be postmarked by 2/28/2019 3. Visit one of three Office of Finance locations https://finance.lacity.org/ 4. Visit the South Valley Business Source Center at 8248 Van Nuys Blvd. in Panorama City.