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Employers who provide leave might qualify to claim valuable credit

Employers who provide paid family and medical leave to their employees might qualify for a credit that can reduce the taxes they owe. It’s called the employer credit for family and medical leave.

Here are some facts about the credit to help employers find out if they might be able to claim it.

To be eligible, an employer must:

Have a written policy that meets several requirements.
Provide:
- At least two weeks of paid family and medical leave to full-time employees.
- A prorated amount of paid leave for part-time employees.
- Pay for leave that’s at least 50 percent of the wages normally paid to employees.

Applicable dates:

It’s available for wages paid in taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2017, and before Jan. 1, 2020.

The amount of the credit:

The credit is generally equal to 12.5 to 25 percent of paid family and medical leave for qualifying employees. The percentage is based on how much employers pay each employee for family and medical leave.

Qualifying leave:

The leave can be for any or all the reasons specified in the Family and Medical Leave Act:

Birth of an employee’s child.
Care for the child.
Placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care.
To care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition.
A serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of their job.
Any qualifying emergency due to an employee’s spouse, child, or parent being on covered active duty in the Armed Forces. This includes the taxpayer being notified of an impending order to covered active duty.
To care for a service member who is the employee’s spouse, child, parent, or next of kin.

Claiming the credit:

To claim the credit, employers will file two forms with their tax return. These are Form 8994, Credit for Paid Family and Medical Leave, and Form 3800, General Business Credit.

Good Credit

We all try to use our credit wisely. But American’s credit card debit has been inching up along with the cost of living. Since the late 70s have essentially been keeping up with the increasing costs of daily life with debt. If you are one of the lucky (or frugal) and do not carry debt month over month then why not find one that is the most useful to you?

Once a Year

It pops up, that Annual Fee on your credit card. And you probably, for a moment, say to yourself “What the heck is that!” until you read further. A fee on top of paying interest may seem like insult to injury. But it may be a way to offset those rewards consumers want as well as separating the wheat from the chaff – the chaff being frugal consumers. Credit card companies want ‘good’ borrowers (yes, that is essentially what we are when we use credit) i.e. wealthy, to ensure that they keep paying them back.

You can expect an annual fee to be between $25 and $500 depending on the card. If the rewards surpass the amount of the fee then you have found yourself a good deal. If, however, you fail to use the perk – such as a free hotel room – in a year you have come out in the red.

Points Matter-The Fewer the Better

If you carry a balance on your credit cards and that annual fee comes with a lower APR (annual percentage rate) it might well be worth it. Or if you travel often and want to rack up mileage points you might find a card with great rewards but also possibly a higher fee.

There are always deals available for 0% interest. But read carefully, those deals are for a finite amount of time. It is important to know what the interest rate will go to once the offer time has elapsed. And beware, not all 0% interest offers cover balance transfers. And if there is a deal on a balance transfer, you can bet there is a fee (usually a small percentage of the amount transferred) tacked on.

Calculate

If you are using a credit card for travel rewards for instance, calculate how much the reward will save you. If your savings are more than you would pay, say a hotel stay valued at $120 and the annual fee is $85 you have just saved yourself $35. But if you don’t plan on travelling often and let those rewards expire unused, then you have just cost yourself $85.

If you are taking advantage of a 0% balance transfer option, make sure you don’t transfer more than you can comfortably pay in the offer period. Otherwise you may be just where you started.

A cash back rewards card can sound great, unless you don’t charge the certain items allocated for reward with your particular credit card. Or if you find that you don’t charge at all but incur an annual fee, it may not be such a great deal either.

A quick search for “best credit card offers” can reap good results. Or head to an established site like, www.NerdWallet.com but do research what you may qualify for. And of course, every time you apply for credit the credit reporting agencies will be notified. There can be adverse effects of applying for multiple cards at the same time, so pick wisely and apply only one or two at a time.

So, you want to open up a Cannabis Retail Store, The Beginner’s Guide

Perhaps you’re a shopkeeper at cute boutique store or a convenience store, drawn to a unprecedented vivid spot in a retail landscape mired in doom-and-gloom. Maybe you ignored out on the primary segment of the green gold rush and also you’re seeking to make your mark in this (literal) boom industry, understanding it’s a area in which customers have indicated a desire for purchasing in-man or woman in place of on-line. Or maybe you’ve just heard that the industry has sold $hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cannabis in May of this year and want your own piece of that inexperienced market.

Whatever your motivation, entering into Marijuana retail is a chunk extra concerned than renting a storefront and finding out exactly which pot pun to apply in your enterprise name. From developing to selling to shopping for, it’s an surroundings that’s without delay surprisingly regulated and unpredictably fluid, a emblem-new industry in an infinite beta check as governments refine the guidelines, parameters and approaches of accommodating the demand for a product that turned into unlawful much less than a 12 months ago. There’s a reason “get a legal professional” is the first piece of advice most people in this enterprise dispense.

And that’s why we’re no longer claiming that this is a complete guide to beginning a Cannabis Retail Store. Rather, it’s a roadmap to pursuing your dream of proudly owning a legalized “Marijuana store”…and a signposting of the pitfalls to look out for, lest your dream “could” vanish in a gasp of smoke.

Seek professional help from someone seasoned in the industry

One of the earliest and best investments in your new vision will be consulting with a Cannabis lawyer and Accounting/Tax Firm or another Cannabis store and sticking close to them for the duration of the long haul of launching your cannabis retail dream. The complexity lies in compliance, and the myriad ways in which a Cannabis store has to adhere to a strict set of suggestions that govern the whole lot from advertising and marketing to record preserving, store place to how the cannabis is secured in your premises. There are even regulations for a way far off the floor your license desires to be displayed.

It’s no longer always interpreted from the formal writing issued by license issuers, but from revel in running with a regulators, you’re most in risk of losing your license over matters that are willful or intentional, like bringing in product from the black market, or promoting to minors. Something like one of your safety cameras going out and you not notifying someone right away, however, may be only a warning or a write up. The price of this compliance is something that might-be commercial enterprise owners want to issue into their marketing strategy. It isn’t loose to be preserving all of your security, to properly educate your staff and to keep up with stock control.

Get the inexperienced prematurely

And whilst we’re on the subject of money: Its warned that most banks aren’t entertaining enterprise loans for cannabis shops (deeming it too high hazard), and funding is getting more tough to come back by way of because the industry matures. This may be a chief snag for some investors, for potential permit holders. If you don’t have that form of exchange below the sofa cushions, a few applicable state banks and credit unions that are open to working with cannabis businesses. Consider asking family and friends to make investments (thank you Grandma!).

Expect to pay a top rate

The Cannabis Tax is often referred to as the “Green Tax,” This “special industry seedling” plants up in each issue of a cannabis enterprise, from insurance to banks and landlords who outright refused to do business with them. You just need to navigate through it and locate the right groups who will take to your enterprise.

Obtain a license

Precisely the way you get the permit to legally promote cannabis varies from city to city and state to state. In many cities/states, it’s a lottery device, the second one spherical of which is presently underway; in the meantime, different municipalities have a rolling application device without a cap, even though there’s a restriction on what number of shops a unmarried entity can personal.

It’s also important to word that not every person is eligible to hold a license. While many offenses (like getting stuck with a gram when you have been 20) aren’t deal breakers, any involvement in organized crime or drug trafficking is a no-no, as is bankruptcy in sure areas.

Tax planning should include a Paycheck Checkup

Year-round tax planning is important for everyone. Just because a taxpayer already filed their tax return doesn’t mean they don’t need to think about taxes for the rest of the year. In fact, what they do now may affect any tax they might owe next year. It could also affect the refund they expect.

Since federal taxes operate on a pay-as-you-go basis, taxpayers need to pay most of their tax during the year as they earn the income. Taxpayers should make sure they’re having the correct amount of tax withheld from their paychecks. It’s a good idea for taxpayers to do a Paycheck Checkup for these reasons:

Having too little withheld could lead to a smaller than expected refund.
Having too little withheld could even lead to an unexpected tax bill.
Employees who have too much tax withheld will see less money in each paycheck. Having more money in each paycheck may be more helpful than getting a large refund when they file.

Taxpayers can use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator to check their withholding. All taxpayers should use this tool to do a Paycheck Checkup ASAP if they haven’t already done so in 2019. Some taxpayers should do another Paycheck Checkup even if they already did one this year. This includes anyone whose personal or financial information changes due to a life event. Some life events that can affect withholding are:

Marriage
Having a baby
Getting a new job
Getting a raise at work

Taxpayers who want to change how much tax is withheld from their paycheck simply need to submit an updated Form W-4 to their employer.

The IRS has several digital tools taxpayers can use to stay updated on important tax information that may help with tax planning. In addition to visiting the IRS.gov website, they can download the IRS2Go app, watch IRS YouTube videos, and follow the IRS on Twitter and Instagram.

Here’s what taxpayers should know about the new IRS Tax Withholding Estimator

Taxpayers who haven’t yet checked their withholding this year should do so ASAP. All taxpayers can do this by using the new mobile-friendly Tax Withholding Estimator. This new tool can be used by workers, as well as retirees, self-employed individuals and other taxpayers. It’s a user-friendly step-by-step tool to help taxpayers effectively adjust the amount of income tax they have withheld from wages and pension payments. This helps them make sure that they are paying the right amount of tax as they earn it throughout the year.

Here are some things people should know about the new tool:

Using the tool to do a Paycheck Checkup can help taxpayers avoid an unexpected year-end tax bill and possibly a penalty when they file their 2019 tax return next year.
The new tool allows taxpayers to separately enter pensions and other sources of income. Taxpayers who receive pension income can use the results from the estimator to complete a Form W-4P. They then give this form to their payer.
It’s important for anyone who had an unexpected tax bill or a penalty when they filed this year to do a checkup.
It’s also an important step for those who made withholding adjustments in 2018 or had a major life change.
The new Tax Withholding Estimator makes it easier to enter wages and withholding for each job held by the taxpayer and their spouse.
At the end of the process, the tool makes specific withholding recommendations for each job and spouse. It also clearly explains what the taxpayer should do next.
Those most likely to owe tax because they’ve had too little tax withheld include:
- Those who itemized in the past but now take the increased standard deduction.
- Two-wage-earner households.
- Employees with nonwage sources of income.
- Those with complex tax situations.

Employers who provide leave might qualify to claim valuable credit

Good Credit

So, you want to open up a Cannabis Retail Store, The Beginner’s Guide

Tax planning should include a Paycheck Checkup

Here’s what taxpayers should know about the new IRS Tax Withholding Estimator

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