by Susan Brown | Sep 1, 2023 | Blog
Welcome back to Ned’s blog spot, where you can find all the answers to your tax questions. Teachers, this one is for you! First and foremost, we want to give a HUGE shoutout from your crew at Ned Jackson to all our educators out there, thank you for all your do to keep our kids sharp and safe!
With the new school year in full swing, we wanted to take a moment to remind you about your annual maximum deductions. You will be able to deduct $300 of out-of-pocket classroom expenses on your 2023 income taxes. If you are married filing jointly, and your spouse is also an educator this limit increases to $600. However, in this situation, no more than $300 for each spouse. Of course, with any deduction, we want to gently remind you to please keep good records of receipts, check stubs, cancelled checks, etc…
Who Qualifies?
Any educator K-12; teacher, instructor, counselor, principal, or aide. You must have worked at least 900 hours during the school year. Public and private school educators are included in this deduction.
What Can I Deduct?
Per the IRS, educators can deduct the cost of:
– Books, supplies, and other materials used in the classroom
– Equipment, including computer equipment, software and services
– COVID protective items to stop the spread of disease; face masks, sanitizer, gloves, soap, tape, physical barriers, air purifiers and items recommended by the CDC.
– Professional development courses related to the curriculum they teach or the students they teach. However, the IRS does warn it may be more beneficial to claim that as a lifetime learning credit (be sure to ask your tax expert which way would be more beneficial for your individual circumstance)
*Qualified expenses DO NOT include the cost of homeschooling or nonathletic supplies for courses.
You can read more about this at the link below:
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/new-school-year-reminder-to-educators-maximum-educator-expense-deduction-is-300-in-2023
We hope you find this information helpful as you begin to prepare for the upcoming tax season. And as always, the information for our main office downtown will be listed as well. Don’t forget to check back for more!
Ned Jackson Downtown Office
Address
255 N Liberty Street
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone
(904) 356-0349
Email
info@nedjacksontax.com
by Susan Brown | Jul 31, 2023 | Blog
Just a friendly reminder from your favorite tax preparers. Tax season is just around the corner and there’s still time to make withholding adjustments if needed, to ensure the best outcome on your 2023 tax preparation. We wanted to remind you of a few things you can do to get prepped for the upcoming season and make sure you have everything you need when you come in to see us.
- Check on your W-4 with your employer
- Your payroll department should be able to provide you with a projection of your annual gross pay by years end, and help you make adjustment to your withholding accordingly. Before you do this, you’ll want to know what tax bracket you are in to make sure you know how much you should be withholding. Remember, you are taxed based on where you fall on the bracket based on your annual income.
- Keep your standard deduction in mind / Increase Donations
- In previous years, you were able to take a certain percentage of your charitable donations even if you couldn’t itemize, but those days are sadly over. You will only be able to take your charitable donations if you have more donations than your standard deduction. You can find your standard deductions for this upcoming tax season below.
| Filing status |
2023 standard deduction |
| Single |
$13,850. |
| Married, filing separately |
$13,850. |
|
Married, filing jointly; qualified widow/er
|
$27,700. |
| Head of household |
$20,800. |
- Consider your spouse / partners income if married filing jointly
- If you are trying to figure out how you will come out based on your tax bracket, standard deduction and withholding, do not forget other income if your spouse or partner also works. Your tax bracket will be calculated on your COMBINED income.
- Come in as soon as you have all your documents
- It’s always better to come in sooner, than later. Our preparers get busier as the deadline approaches and the sooner you come in, the less time you will have to wait for your return to be completed. You DO NOT need an appointment to have your taxes prepared.
We hope you find this information helpful as you begin to prepare for the upcoming tax season. The contact information is listed below. Our preparers are in the office weekly and would be happy to assist you with any questions you may have. Don’t forget to check back for more!
Ned Jackson Downtown Office
Address
255 N Liberty Street
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone
(904) 356-0349
Email
info@nedjacksontax.com
by Susan Brown | Jul 10, 2023 | Blog
A new security scam has been identified by the IRS, that you may want to keep an eye out for. The new scheme is coming in the mail in a cardboard envelope. It will include IRS letterhead and will state it is “in relation to your unclaimed refund.” The letter will also include contact information and a phone number that do not belong to the IRS and may even include sensitive information like a picture of your driver’s license. IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel says, “This is just the latest in the long string of attempts by identify thieves posing as the IRS in hopes of tricking people into providing valuable personal information to steal identities and money, including tax refunds. These scams can come in through email, text, or even special mailings. People should be careful to watch out for red flags that clearly mark these as IRS scams.”
The letter you receive in the mail tell recipients they need to provide “Filing Information” for their refund and include some awkwardly worded phrases like these:
“A clear Phone of Your Driver’s License That Clearly Displays All Four (4) Angles, Taken in a Place with Good Lighting.”
“You’ll need to get this to get your refunds after filing. These must be given to a filing agent who will help you submit your unclaimed property claim. Once you send all the information please try to be checking your email for response from the angels. Thanks.”
The IRS warns that “Individuals should never respond to tax-related phishing or smishing or click on the URL link. Instead, the scams should be reported by sending the email or a copy of the text/SMS as an attachment to phishing@irs.gov. The report should include the caller ID (email or phone number), date, time and time zone, and the number that received the message.” You can also report this scam and any others you may come across to the ‘Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration’, ‘Internet Crime Complaint Center.’
We hope you find this information helpful as you begin to prepare for the upcoming tax season. Listed below, you will find some links with commonly asked questions about this scam. And as always, the information for our main office downtown will be listed as well. Don’t forget to check back for more!
LINKS
o https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-security-summit-partners-warn-taxpayers-of-new-scam-unusual-delivery-service-mailing-tries-to-trick-people-into-sending-photos-bank-account-information#main-content
o https://www.tigta.gov/irs-scam-resources
o https://www.ic3.gov
Ned Jackson Downtown Office
Address
255 N Liberty Street
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone
(904) 356-0349
Email
info@nedjacksontax.com
by Susan Brown | Jan 4, 2023 | Blog
Welcome back to Ned’s blog spot, where you can find all the answers to your tax questions. This will be our last blog post until after tax season, and with that, we want to wish all of you the Merriest Christmas from our Ned Jackson Family, to yours! In today’s blog topic, we will be discussing child tax credits, additional child tax credit, and other dependent credits.
The biggest change for the 2022 tax year, will be the extinction of the Advanced Child Tax Credits. However, along with getting rid of those advanced payments, also reduced the rate of tax amount per child. For the 2022 tax year, the new rate will be as follows: $2,000 per qualifying child (under the age of 17) and has a refundable component or the additional child tax credit of up to $1500, subject to MAGI (Modified Adjusted Gross Income) phaseouts. Your contributions are phased out if your MAGI exceed the allowed limits. The eligibility for the child tax credit remains the same; each qualifying child claimed on the tax return must have a social security number.
Dependents not eligible for the child tax credit, may be eligible for the other dependent credit (ODC) of $500. Dependents qualifying for the ODC include qualifying children aged 17 and older, dependents without a social security number, or qualifying relatives. Please remember when claiming the CTC or ODC, we must see proof the dependent lived with you for more than half the year. There are many ways to prove this such as, but not limited to: statements from school, medical, daycare, church, etc…
We hope you find this information helpful as you begin to prepare for the upcoming tax season. And as always, the information for our main office downtown will be listed as well. Don’t forget to check back for more!
Ned Jackson Downtown Office
Address
255 N Liberty Street
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone
(904) 356-0349
Email
info@nedjacksontax.com
by Susan Brown | Nov 8, 2022 | Blog
Welcome back to Ned’s blog spot, where you can find all the answers to your tax questions. In today’s blog topic, we will be discussing social security and how it will be changing in the year 2023.
In the year 2023, there will be an increase in the cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA), payable to over 65 million social security beneficiaries. The increase will be 8.7%, equating to more than $140 per month starting in January 2023. Beneficiaries turning 66 years of age next year, will not lose any benefits if they earn $56,520 or less before reaching 66. Individuals who are 62-65 years of age by the end of next year, will make up to $21,240 before losing any benefits. Additionally, once a beneficiary turns 66, there will be no earnings cap.
With an increase in COLA, there will also be an increase in the maximum amount of earnings subject to social security tax. The new maximum amount will be $160,200, a $13,200 hike from years past. Employers and employees will continue to pay 1.45% Medicare tax on all compensation, with no cap. Employees also pay a 0.9% Medicare surtax on wages and self-employment income over $200,000 for singles and $250,000 for couples. The surtax does not apply to employers.
The Acting Social Security Commissioner, Kilola Kijakazi, has released the following statement regarding the above changes (there is a link below to watch the full press release)
“Medicare premiums are going down and Social Security benefits are going up in 2023, which will give seniors more peace of mind and breathing room. This year’s substantial Social Security cost-of-living adjustment is the first time in over a decade that Medicare premiums are not rising and shows that we can provide more support to older Americans who count on the benefits they have earned,”
LINKS
https://www.ssa.gov/cola/
https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/2022/#10-2022-2
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgm5q4YT1AM.
We hope you find this information helpful as you begin to prepare for the upcoming tax season. And as always, the information for our main office downtown will be listed as well. Don’t forget to check back for more!
Ned Jackson Downtown Office
Address
255 N Liberty Street
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone
(904) 356-0349
Email
info@nedjacksontax.com
by Susan Brown | Oct 25, 2022 | Blog
Welcome back to Ned’s blog spot, where you can find all the answers to your tax questions. We’ll be ending October with information regarding the effects Hurricane Ian has on taxpayers. We offer our deepest condolences to our clients impacted by the storm and have some great news regarding deadlines.
Hurricane Ian began its path of destruction September 23, 2022. Sweeping across Cuba, Florida, and the Carolinas, it destroyed many homes, took many lives, and left many without food, water, and power. Following the disaster declaration issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the IRS has announced that victims of Hurricane Ian will now have until February 15, 2023, to file individual and business taxes. The deadline also applies to estimated tax payments due January 17, 2023, plus payroll and excise tax returns. As with anything, here is the “fine print.” To be eligible for the new deadline, there must be a valid extension filed on or before April 18, 2022. The deadline also applies to the quarterly estimated tax payments, usually due January 17, 2023, and the quarterly payroll and excise taxes, usually due October 31, 2022 and January 31, 2022. Losses from Ian can be deducted on either your 2021 or 2022 tax return. If you’ve already filed your 2021, you may consider amending it to take the write-off. All the limitations and rules for taking the losses will still apply.
The IRS will automatically be providing filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an IRS address located in the disaster area. However, if you are an affected taxpayer and receive a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS, you are encouraged to call the IRS and have the penalty removed. Below you will find links to further information provided by FEMA and the IRS, relating to disaster relief as well as a map of the affected areas. 
LINKS
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/help-for-victims-of-hurricane-ian
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/help-for-victims-of-hurricane-ian
We hope you find this information helpful as you begin to prepare for the upcoming tax season. And as always, the information for our main office downtown will be listed as well. Don’t forget to check back for more!
Ned Jackson Downtown Office
Address
255 N Liberty Street
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Phone
(904) 356-0349
Email
info@nedjacksontax.com
