Entity choice is important for many reasons. Asset protection and tax considerations are always near the top of the list. As a business progresses through the five (5) phases of a life cycle: start-up, growth, maturity, renewal/rebirth/decline and succession– the factors that earlier prompted a particular choice of entity may change. And, a new entity choice may become more appropriate.

You wondered at the time whether it was a scam, right? And now you regularly see news reports about ERC scams. Employee retention credit scams, that is. And so, two questions. Did you get scammed? And if so, what should you do at this point? Fortunately, you can probably answer this question pretty easily.

On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 into law. It reached the President's desk upon passage in the House by a vote of 225 to 201 on December 23. This followed passage in the Senate on December 22 by a vote of 68 to 29. The heavily negotiated omnibus legislative package includes all appropriations for the federal 2023 fiscal year. The Act does not include any major tax provisions or tax extenders. However, the omnibus bill does include the long-awaited SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.

Consulting, freelancing, starting a side business, there’s a lot of talk about flashy terms like these nowadays. This week’s article from Forbes Advisor gets a little more into the weeds, offering a detailed look into the sole proprietorship, one of the simplest business entities you can form. It goes over the definition, tax benefits, and risks of a Sole Proprietor. No matter what type of business you are involved in, always know the taxes involved.

Taxes usually aren’t much fun. They’re even less fun when one cannot afford to make payments without serious financial hardship. Don’t worry, the good old IRS has some ways to still get its money. This article, written by the IRS, details some avenues for paying your taxes when you can’t pay all at once, including getting a loan, payment plans, penalty relief, and more.

Happy New Year!

And get ready for the tax filing season.

Hopefully, you followed some of the suggestions outlined in Publication 552 to organize your records. If you did, great! This will make filing your tax returns a lot easier this year. It also means that you and your tax advisor can spend more time on tax and financial planning issues for 2023 vs. looking back to 2022.