Financial Education

Renouncing U.S. Citizenship? Are you subject to Exit tax?

Renouncing U.S. citizenship or giving up long-term residency is not only a personal milestone—it’s a complex financial event with major tax consequences. The U.S. exit tax, under IRC Sec. 877A, treats covered expatriates as if they’ve sold all their worldwide assets the day before expatriation, taxing unrealized gains. The rules apply to individuals who meet

By |2025-07-02T03:41:14+00:00July 7th, 2025|Categories: Financial Education, Individuals|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Understanding the Kiddie Tax: What Families Need to Know

If your child earns income from investments—like dividends, interest, or capital gains—you may need to consider how the kiddie tax could impact your family’s tax situation. Designed to prevent income shifting between generations, this rule applies when a child’s unearned income exceeds $2,600 for the 2025 tax year. While the first $1,300 is tax-free and

How to Maximize Your Social Security in 2025: Timing, Taxes, and Strategic Decisions

Deciding when to start receiving Social Security benefits is one of the most impactful choices you'll make in retirement planning—and 2025 brings new rules, tax considerations, and potential opportunities. While benefits can begin as early as age 62 or be delayed until age 70, the decision should reflect not only your financial needs but also

More regulations for digital assets and crypto brokers

From the IRS release in June 2024, there will be more reporting requirements to digital and crypto brokers (the ones taking possession or custody of those assets, similar to financial institutions that take custody of securities (stock, bonds, etc.) and release a 1099 Brokerage at year end). As included in the guidance, there is no

Charitable donations – Cash vs In kind? Does a pledge count?

Based on numerous reports around three out of four Americans donate to charity on a regular basis. These donations if made to the appropriate organizations, tax-exempt organization by section 501(c)(3) of the Internal revenue code, then, you can deduct in your itemized deductions.  You can use the IRS tool for Tax Exempt Organization Search  Note

Impacted by a Ponzi scheme? You might be able to deduct the loss faster

In early January 2024, the IRS updated the post titled Help for Victims of Ponzi Investment Schemes which makes references to the 2009 related guidance. Note that this guidance was released a year after the Bernard Madoff scandal. In a normal case scenario if you have a loss in the value of a security (capital

Are you a visual person? Enjoy the 1) Tax burden by State and 2) American frustration with the tax system

If you are a visual person, probably, you are aware of Visual Capitalist, a website that contains great graphics in almost any topic (i.e. Economy, Wealth, Automotive, Healthcare, etc.). This website is always posting interesting graphs, tables and other visual elements. Recently, they posted two tax related ones that are worth mentioning: 1) What Frustrates

Victor Garrido, CPA, EA, our Managing partner, recognized as Forbes “Top 200 CPAs in America”

The Managing partner Victor Garrido has been recognized as one of the Top 200 CPAs in America in its first edition. As mentioned in Forbes, "CPAs are often called upon to fill the role of separating financial fact from fiction. A reliable CPA is a bodyguard for your accounting. And as with a bodyguard, the

By |2024-05-07T03:18:51+00:00May 7th, 2024|Categories: Business, Financial Education, Individuals|Tags: , , , |

Tax credits for college students

In the IRS Tax Tip 2022-123, the IRS reminds college students and any taxpayers that might claim them, that there are two education credits available for them: 1. American Opportunity tax credit Worth a maximum benefit of up to $2,500 per eligible student Only available for the first four years at a post-secondary or vocational

Employee Retention credit still available – Up to $26k per employee

The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is a fully refundable credit that targets businesses with employees (w2s) in 2020 and 2021. These businesses must have been impacted by the pandemic, mainly either 1) reduction of sales (50% reduction in 2020 quarter versus 2019 quarter or 20% reduction in 2021 quarter versus 2019 quarter) or 2) partial

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