If you rent out your vacation home for 15 days or more, you must report the income. But exactly what expenses you can deduct depends on whether the home is classified as a rental property for tax purposes, based on the amount of personal vs. rental use. Adjusting your personal use — or the number of days you rent it out — might allow the home to be classified in a more beneficial way.

With a rental property, you can deduct rental expenses, including losses, subject to the real estate activity rules. You can’t deduct any interest that’s attributable to your personal use of the home, but you can take the personal portion of property tax as an itemized deduction.

With a nonrental property, you can deduct rental expenses only to the extent of your rental income. Any excess can be carried forward to offset rental income in future years. You also can take an itemized deduction for the personal portion of both mortgage interest and property taxes.

We can help you determine how your vacation home rental will affect your tax bill — and whether there are steps you can take to reduce the impact.

Now is the time of year when many Americans are using the frequent flyer miles they’ve built up from work-related travel or credit card rewards programs to take the family on a nice vacation. If you’re among them, you may be wondering if those miles could be taxable.

Fortunately, in most cases the answer is “no.” As a general rule, miles awarded by airlines for flying with them are considered nontaxable rebates, as are miles awarded for using a credit or debit card.

But there are exceptions, so it’s a good idea to review your awards for potential tax liability. Types of mile awards the IRS might view as taxable include miles awarded as a prize in airline sweepstakes and miles awarded as promotions. The value of the miles for tax purposes generally is their estimated retail value.
If you’re concerned you’ve received mile awards that could be taxable, please contact us and we’ll help you determine your tax liability, if any.

If you’re in need of cash, early retirement plan withdrawals generally should be a last resort. With a few exceptions, distributions before age 59½ are subject to a 10% penalty on top of any income tax that ordinarily would be due on a withdrawal. Additionally, you’ll lose the potential tax-deferred future growth on the withdrawn amount.

If you have a Roth account, you can withdraw up to your contribution amount free of tax and penalty. But you’ll lose out on potential tax-free growth.

Alternatively, if your employer-sponsored plan, such as a 401(k), allows it, you can take a plan loan. You’ll have to pay it back with interest and make regular principal payments, but you won’t be subject to current taxes or penalties.

Please contact us if you have questions about potential taxes and penalties on early retirement plan withdrawals. We also can help you determine if there are better options available for meeting your cash needs.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010’s shared responsibility provision, commonly referred to as “play or pay,” was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2014. But on July 2, the U.S. Treasury announced that the effective date would be delayed one year, to Jan. 1, 2015. IRS guidance will be issued providing more details and perhaps additional changes.

The original provision:

In some cases imposes nondeductible penalties (generally $2,000 per full-time employee) on “large employers” that don’t offer coverage or that provide coverage that is “unaffordable” or that doesn’t provide “minimum value,” and Defines a “large employer” as one with at least 50 full-time employees, or a combination of full-time and part-time employees that’s “equivalent” to at least 50 full-time employees.

The rules are complex, and the new IRS guidance is expected to clarify — and perhaps simplify — them. Please contact us for the latest information and to determine how your company may be affected.

On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. Sec. 3 defined marriage for federal benefits purposes as being between a man and a woman, thus denying federal benefits — including many tax benefits — to same-sex married couples.

The ruling means that, in states where same-sex marriage is recognized, same-sex married couples will be able to claim numerous federal tax benefits related to being married. But in some cases, these couples will also be subject to some tax burdens, such as the “marriage penalty.”

Same-sex married couples in states where their marriages are recognized should consult their tax planning advisors to determine what new opportunities may be available to them and whether there are any new burdens they should plan for. Please contact us if you have questions.

If you allow employees to telecommute, be sure to consider the potential tax implications. Hiring someone in another state, for example, might create sufficient nexus to expose your company to that state’s income, sales and use, franchise, withholding, or unemployment taxes. And the employee might be subject to double taxation if both states attempt to tax his or her income.

The rules vary by state and also by type of tax — and become even more complicated for international telecommuters. So it’s a good idea to review the rules before you approve a cross-border telecommuting arrangement.

Day camp is a qualified expense under the child or dependent care credit, which is worth 20% of qualifying expenses (more if your adjusted gross income is less than $43,000), subject to a cap. For 2013, the maximum expenses allowed for the credit are $3,000 for one qualifying child and $6,000 for two or more. The credit’s value had been scheduled to drop in 2013, but the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 made higher limits permanent.

Be aware, however, that overnight camp costs don’t qualify for the credit.

A wide variety of tax breaks are available to parents. If you’d like to learn more, please contact us.

Under the health care act, starting in 2013, taxpayers with earned income over $200,000 per year ($250,000 for joint filers and $125,000 for married filing separately) must pay an additional 0.9% Medicare tax on the excess earnings. Employers are required to withhold the tax beginning in the pay period in which wages exceed $200,000 for the calendar year — without regard to the employee’s filing status or income from other sources. So, it’s possible your employer:

Will withhold the tax even though you aren’t liable for it. You can’t ask your employer to stop withholding the tax, but you can claim a credit on your income tax return.

Won’t withheld the tax even though you are liable for it. You may use Form W-4 to request additional income tax withholding to cover your liability and avoid interest and penalties.

If you have questions about how withholding issues related to the new 0.9% Medicare tax might affect you, please contact us.

When you sell your principal residence, you can exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 for joint filers) of gain if you meet certain tests. Gain that qualifies for exclusion also is excluded from the new 3.8% Medicare contribution tax.

Losses on the sale of your home aren’t deductible. But if part of it is rented or used exclusively for your business, the loss attributable to that portion is deductible, subject to various limitations.

Because a second home is ineligible for the gain exclusion, consider converting it to rental use before selling. It can be considered a business asset, and you may be able to defer tax on any gains through an installment sale or a Section 1031 exchange. Or you may be able to deduct a loss, but only to the extent attributable to a decline in value after the conversion.

If you’re thinking about putting your home on the market, please contact us to learn more about the potential tax consequences of a sale.

If you’re considering expanding your staff, hiring from certain disadvantaged groups before the end of 2013 can save you tax. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 extended the Work Opportunity credit for hires from most eligible groups through 2013.

Examples of eligible groups include food stamp recipients, ex-felons and nondisabled veterans who’ve been unemployed for four weeks or more, but less than six months. For these groups, the credit generally equals 40% of the first $6,000 of wages paid to qualifying employees, for a maximum credit of $2,400. A larger credit of up to $4,800 is generally available for hiring disabled veterans.

If you’re hiring veterans who’ve been unemployed for six months or more in the preceding year, the maximum credits are even greater:

• $5,600 for nondisabled veterans, and
• $9,600 for disabled veterans.

Please contact us for more information on how to qualify for the credit.