Howard, Howard & Hodges BLOG

For the next few weeks on Tax Tip Tuesday we will be looking new stuff and changes for 2018. This week...Tax Brackets! Revised tax brackets for individuals: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%. Revised tax brackets for trusts and estates: 10%, 24%, 35% and 37%. Married Filing Jointly taxable income brackets: $0 to $19,050 = 10% $19,051 to $77,400 ...

There is a major change in the tax law for 2018, which might make it prudent to prepay your property tax before 12-31-17. If you normally take the itemized deduction on your taxes, those amounts change drastically beginning in 2018. So, if your itemized deductions are normally under $25,000, you may benefit from paying your property tax and donatio...

  'Tis the Season for Charitable Giving... so let's make sure you're doing it right. What documentation am I required to keep on my Charitable Donations? That depends on the type and value of the donation. - For cash donations under $250, the donor must have a bank record (cancelled check, debit, credit card charge) or written communication fr...

A little planning goes a long way to avoiding Underpayment Penalties. Generally, you will avoid the underpayment penalty if you owe less than $1,000 in taxes, or if you paid at least 90% of the taxes due for the current year. If you underpaid this year we can help you determine if you need to adjust your withholdings for 2018.  

  A few days ago the Senate passed their version of the tax reform bill and the House passed their bill several weeks ago. What does this mean? It means we are one step closer to a major tax reform change. The bill from the Senate and House will need to be reconciled so they have one bill both sides agree upon. This could all happen prior to C...

Effective January 1, 2018, the state sales tax rate for renting, leasing or granting a license to use real property is decreasing from 6% to 5.8%. Your county surtax will remain the same, For example: If your commercial property is in Seminole County the rate will drop from 7% (state and county) to 6.8%. If you are in Orange county, the rate will d...

Each year, the Internal Revenue Service issues a list of the top 12 tax-related scams it sees throughout the year. The IRS "Dirty Dozen" highlights various schemes that taxpayers may encounter anytime, many of which peak during tax-filing season. Taxpayers need to guard against ploys that steal their personal information, scam them out of money or ...

Effective January 1, 2018 the minimum wage rate for Florida has been increased to $8.25/hour for non-tipped employees, and $5.23/hour for tipped employees.  Please note that if you subscribe to our poster update service, a new poster will be sent reflecting these updates on or near January 1. If you do not subscribe to the poster update servic...

Social security taxable wage limit is $128,700 Retirees can earn $17,040 without reducing their SS benefits Annual gift amount goes to $15,000 HSA contributions are $3,450 for individuals HSA contributions for a family plan is now $6,900 401k deferral is $18,500 and $24,500 for those 50 and older IRA contribution limit is the same as 2017 at $5,500...