One of the most effective estate-tax-saving techniques is also one of the simplest: making use of the gift tax annual exclusion. It allows you to give to an unlimited number of family or friends cash or property valued up to a “specified” amount each year without owing gift tax or using up any of your […]

Budgets are hard to maintain through the best of times let alone over the last few years. First there was COVID. Then supply chain issues. Then a significant rise in inflation. If you’ve been trying to stick to a budget, you’ve probably been struggling. The biggest challenge, of course, is coming up with realistic target […]

Is your business having trouble collecting payments from clients or vendors? You might be able to claim a bad debt deduction on your tax return. But if you hope to take the deduction on your 2023 return, you’ll have to get busy, because you must be able to show that you’ve made a “reasonable” effort […]

The IRS has announced the per diem rates for ordinary and necessary business travel expenses in fiscal year 2023-24: When using the high-low substantiation method, the rate for travel to high-cost localities is $309 per day and the rate for all other continental United States (CONUS) localities is $214 per day. For meals, the rate […]