MV Casper & Co.

01/01/2025

07/30/2024

Most businesses have websites today. Determining the proper tax treatment for the costs involved in developing a website can be difficult. Despite the widespread use of websites, the IRS hasn’t released formal guidance on when website costs can be deducted. Therefore, you must apply existing guidance that’s available for other costs to website development costs. The exact tax treatment of website design costs depends on whether they’re for software or hardware and whether they’re for a start-up business. If you hire third parties to set up and run your website, payments are currently deductible as ordinary and necessary business expenses. Contact us if you want more information.

07/30/2024

Many Americans receive private disability income. How is it taxed? It depends on who paid for the benefit. If the income is paid directly to you by an employer, it’s taxable to you just as ordinary salary is. But if you paid for the policy, the payments received under it aren’t taxable. Frequently, the payments aren’t made by an employer but by an insurance company under a policy providing disability coverage. In other cases, they’re made under an arrangement similar to accident or health insurance. Again, the tax treatment depends on who paid for the insurance coverage. (Note: The rules covering the tax treatment of Social Security Disability Insurance benefits are different.)

07/17/2024

Are you buying a business that will have one or more co-owners? Or do you already own one fitting that description? If so, consider installing a buy-sell agreement. A well-drafted agreement can: 1) transform your business ownership interest into a more liquid asset, 2) prevent unwanted ownership changes, and 3) avoid estate tax hassles with the IRS. The death of a co-owner is an event that triggers a buy-sell agreement. You can use life insurance policies to form the financial backbone of your agreement. In the simplest case of a cross-purchase agreement between two co-owners, each co-owner purchases a life insurance policy on the other. Contact us about setting up a buy-sell agreement.