The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Can be used for the basis of building wealth:

Here is how it works;
If you have at lease one child that lives with you over half the year, you may be eligible for this credit. It is set up so that the more money you earn, the higher the credit until you reach an income of $8,050 for one child or $11,300 for two or more children. The credit peeks at $2,747 for one child and $4,536 for two or more children. Therefore the credit can increase your income by 34% to 40%.

The credit then levels off then decreases as income increases but don’t stop striving to increase your earned income. Other credits come into play that I will show you latter that will help make up for the reduction in the earned income credit.

In this first example we can see how much a family of four may benefit from the. (EITC)

Income $16,000
Tax 0
Earned income credit 4,280
Total income $20,280

The (EITC) increases family income by $4,280 or about 25%

This lump-sum payment can become the basis for building wealth. Here are a few suggestions:
1. This lump sum can go a long way toward closing costs on a home purchase.

2. The IRS will allow you to receive up to half the credit along with your normal paycheck, when you complete a form W5. In this way the tax system helps you with the house payments.

3. The payment can be contributed toward a Roth IRA that can grow tax free for future needs.

Sometimes we need the funds to take care of everyday needs, but I would still encourage you to save as much as you can. In this way you can still start building wealth.

B. Child Tax Credit

As your income increases The Child Tax Credit provides additional help for working families. Let’s see how this works:

The child tax credit is divided into two parts:

1. The first part provides $1,000 per child under the age of 17 to reduce the federal income tax.

2. The second part is a refundable portion that is designed to provide additional cash for families as the (EITC) decreases.

Let’s take another look at the family of four in the first example and see how the child tax credit may increase the total available cash as income increases:

Income $16,000
Tax 0
EITC 4,280
Additional child tax credit 705
Total income $20,985

There are those out there that limit the amount that they work because they want to maximize the earned income credit. But as you can see in the example above as income increases and EITC decreases the additional child tax credit increases.

If the couple above stopped working when they had earned $11,300 so they could receive the maximum EITC of $4,536 their total income would have been $15,836. By continuing to earn income their total credits increased by $449 and they received a total of $5,149 additional income.
In the next example a family of four can increase their earnings by over 50% and still receive more than $4,000 in refundable credits after federal income tax.

The family earned $25,000 a year. The spouses filed married filing joint with two children under the age of 17 that live with both parents all year. The total income should look like this:

Income from wages $25,000
Earned income credit 2,385
Additional child tax credit 1,850
Total income $29,235

The total credits were reduced by a few hundred dollars but the total family income increased by $8,250.

Now let’s look at an example where the family’s income has doubled again: The married couple makes $50,000 a year, have two children under the age of 17. This family took my advice, purchased a home, sold it and moved up to a larger home, let us take a look at their income. They pay $10,000 a year in interest, $2,000 in real estate tax, $1,000 in state tax and have $5,000 in contributions.

Income from wages $50,000
Less contributions to IRA 5,000
AGI $45,000
Taxable income $13,800
Tax 0
Refundable credit 620

This family of four is now making over three times what they were making even with the earned income credit and they are still receiving a refundable credit. If they took the standard deduction of $10,300 instead of itemizing $18,000 their federal tax would be $474. They would still receive a benefit of a $2,000 tax reduction from this credit.

C. Children’s Exemption
Now let’s take the examples above and see more tax savings from using the child’s exemption:
In the first example the children’s exemption didn’t provide any tax reduction but the earned income credit and child tax credit provided $4,985 to the family’s income amounting to 34% of the family’s total income.

The second example each child provided $405 in tax savings in addition to the EITC and child tax credit, their total contribution to the family income is $5,045 or 17% of total income.
The third example the children provide $461.5 in tax savings each in tax plus the additional benefit of the child tax credit of $1,000 each. This represents a total tax savings of $2,923. In this example the children only contribute about 6.5% of the family income. In the next section we will take a look at another benefit that is provided in the tax code the standard deduction.

D. The Child’s standard deduction

Each child can earn up to the amount of their standard deduction without affecting the credits or having a federal tax liability.

In the last example the parents are self employed. The self employed pay double social security and Medicare tax and this tax is called self employment tax. On page 8 of IRS publication 15 (Circular E) under “Family Employees” it states that “Payments for the services of a child under age 18 who work for his parent in a trade or business are not subject to social security and Medicare taxes if the trade or business is a proprietorship or partnership where each partner is a parents of the child.”

The IRS doesn’t let you charge for food or rent to your minor child but think of the possibilities. You no longer need to set a college fund, date fund, car fund, in some cultures a mission fund. All of these expenses can come from the child’s own funds. In the following two examples let’s see how much you may save on just self employment tax. In this example $8,000 of deductible health insurance premium and HSA contribution has been figured in the calculation.

We will consider two examples the first we will see what tax is without the child working then in the second example we will how much is save by having the child work.

Income from self employment $75,000
Self employment tax 9,466
Federal income tax 3,967
State income tax 1,863
Child tax credit 2,000
Income after tax $61,703

In this example the children where worth $3,416, ($2000 child tax credit, $956 federal tax and $460 state tax) now let’s look at the other example where the children work for their parents and earn the amount of their standard deductions.

Income from Self employment $64,700
Self employment tax 8,011
Tax 2,466
State tax 1,209
Child tax credit 2,000
Sub-total $55,014
Child’s income 10,300
Total $65,323

In the second example the children contributed and additional $3,620, ($1,455 savings from self employment, $1501 federal tax, and $654 state tax). They contributed a total of $7,036 to the family. Another way to look at this is it only cost $3,264 for two employees; likely this is less than the allowances and expenses you would have if they weren’t working.

MCCrowther Tax Service commissioned Marvin Crowther to prepare this article as a service to the public in an effort to reduce the tax burden.

The website for MCCrowther Tax Service is http://www.mccrowtherassoc.com you may reply by email at listings@mccrowtherassoc.com

Copyright 2007
By Crowther Publishing

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marvin_Crowther

It is quite common to see children actively involved in the family business. Even young children can perform valuable services. Many business owners, however, miss out on the major tax savings generated by actually hiring their children and paying them a fair wage for their services.

The expense is tax-deductible to you, and the income is tax-free to them. [Reg Sec 1.162-7(a) ] The tax-free limit for dependent children was $5,350 per child per year for 2007, and it tends to be increased somewhat each year. The amount is equal to the Standard Deduction.

[Rev. Proc. 95-53 and IRC Section § 63(h)(2) ]

In order to qualify, the wages must be reasonable in amount, based on services actually rendered and documented as paid. Children as young as seven years old have been found to qualify as employees of the parents’ business. [Reference Eller v. Commissioner, 77 T.C. 934 (1981) ]

And if they are family members under 18 working for a sole proprietorship, they are exempt from payroll taxes [IRC Section § 3121(b)(3)(A) and § 3306(c)(5) ] and the business is not required to withhold or to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes. [Tax Court Ruling 48 TC 439, 450 (196) in the case of Denman v. IRS Commissioner]

For incorporated business owners, your corporation will have to pay payroll tax and you do need to withhold social security/medicare from the children’s wages, but the benefits are still well worth it.

In order to qualify, the wage rate has to be “reasonable and customary” within your region of the country and within your industry for the type of work being performed. These wages must be paid and the appropriate payroll tax returns and W-2 forms filed with the IRS and Social Security Administration. Before hiring your children, check with your tax pro to be sure your documentation and reporting will follow the rules. [Revenue Ruling 73-393]

The kids (as employees) should document what they did to earn the money, [Revenue Ruling 73-393] so have them fill out a simple “work log” with headings like:
o Date they worked
o Type of work performed
o Amount of time spent working
o Hourly rate you paid them

** Pay Attention Here **
We’re about to show you how to pay for…
o The car your high-schooler wants
o Designer-label clothes the kids demand
o Movie and Concert tickets
o A High School graduation trip
o College tuition, books and supplies
o Your daughter’s expensive wedding
o And lots of other personal out-of-pocket expenses

ALL in PRE-TAX Dollars!

Here’s how you can do this…

The tax-deductible $5,350/year Uncle Sam lets you pay your children as employees, is equivalent to about $100.00 per week! But, you say, “Who gives their kids a $100.00 per week allowance?” YOU might now! And here’s why…

Let’s say you come up with the tax-free limit of about $100.00 per week worth of business related “chores” for them to do. After they turn in their “work log”, you then pay them by check. So, you’ll have to open a separate checking account for them to deposit and cash payroll checks. Of course, you will deposit every week’s $100.00 paycheck into that account. Make sure it’s an interest-bearing account. (You will see why in a minute.)

The bank will require it to be a “joint account” with you, since they are minors. Although it is technically a “joint” account, only you will be authorized to make withdrawals or to write checks on that account, since the child is a minor.

Reader Alert! Here is Where It Gets REALLY Interesting…

The law requires you to pay them the wage they earned, in order for you to be able to deduct the amount as a business expense.

These funds can now be used in a variety of ways so long as they are for the benefit of your child. The only other specific restriction is that this money cannot be used for your child’s lodging or meals. [Rev. Rule 73-393]

So, you simply tell your child, “I will withdraw $10 (for example) out of each week’s pay for you to spend any way you wish, however, the other $90.00 will stay in the (interest-bearing) account to be used by you to pay for your________.”

Fill in the blank with words like car, graduation trip, wedding, or whatever you like.

Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, anticipate that you would be able to pay for school supplies and tennis shoes, or pay for cars, trips, and weddings out of pre-tax dollars? It’s true! It’s real! And it’s 100% legal!

There’s another practical benefit to this strategy that is at least as important as the tax benefits. Your child/children will begin learning the value of a dollar. Imagine being at the mall to buy a new pair of shoes. The child has to decide whether he or she wants the $150 designer-label brand or the $45 generic brand – knowing that whatever they have left in their checking/savings account will be theirs someday, to pay for their car, trip, college, wedding, etc.

Isn’t that a great tax-savings strategy and a great learning opportunity for your children?

Next – Hire Your SPOUSE, So You Can Write Off Medical “Out-of-Pocket” Expenses for YOURSELF!

This applies to sole proprietor entities only. When your spouse is an employee of your home-business, he/she is eligible for “benefits” from his/her employer (that’s you), and those benefits are deductible as business expenses. [IRC Section § 162(a)]

So you establish this benefit as company policy: Any and all employees and their family members (again, that includes YOU) will be reimbursed (by the home-business) for all medical-related expenses not covered under any other insurance plan he/she may have under another employer.

“Any and all employees” means your spouse and your children, “and all members of their family” includes YOU.

A Word of Caution: Only establish this company policy if your business will be hiring only your own family members. If you establish this policy and then hire non-family members, you will be required to offer this benefit to them as well, and that could defeat the purpose.

So What Just Happened?
You just set into place a strategy for legally tax-deducting all annual insurance plan deductibles, co-pays for doctor visits, prescription drugs, and non-covered expenses like braces, glasses, contact lenses, dental work, and possibly even cosmetic surgery. [Reg Sec 71-588; Plr. 9409006]

No minimum thresholds apply; every single dollar is tax-deductible by the business as an employee benefit cost.

It is important that this “policy” be established in writing, as a legal document and that the benefit is reasonable in relation to the level of services provided by the employee to your business. In Appendix C to this system you will find a sample fill-in-the-blanks “Self-Insured Medical Reimbursement Plan”, which you may feel free to adopt or adapt, if you wish. [Reg Sec 1.105-5(a)]

A Word About the Level of Your Spouse’s Wages

A sole practitioner (Schedule C taxpayer) is not required to pay Unemployment Taxes on the employment of a spouse; however the business is required to pay Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes on adult family-member employees.

Since those taxes are calculated based on a percentage of the employee’s wages, the lower the wage level, the lower the payroll taxes will be. Even if you employ your spouse at “minimum wage”, you qualify to use this medical expense reimbursement tax strategy, so long as this benefit is reasonable in relation to the level of services provided by your spouse. [IRC Section § 3306(c)(5); IRS Publication 15, and IRS Circular E all apply]

URL: http://www.recordsinorder.com/
Scott C Turner, CPA Mission, Path and Today’s Focus

Life Mission: His mission has always been to find a better, more affordable method for the average to above-average smaller business owner to successfully access a higher level of tax strategy service that formerly could only have been obtained by the wealthier and more-informed business owner.

The Path: He was aggressively recruited upon graduation in 1978 by each of the “Big-8″ accounting firms. He accepted an offer from Main LaFrentz, the ninth largest CPA firm worldwide at the time, an affiliate of KPMG, the largest international accounting firm, where he immediately specialized in small business taxation – a specialty in which he has remained focused to this day.

Scott Turner is the former Director of Tax Consultation Services for the nation’s second largest employee benefits provider, serving more than 10 million taxpayers. This service provided an in-depth view of individual and business questions faced by today’s smaller business owners.

Today’s Focus: Use the latest technological advances to relieve business owners in reporting their financial and tax data, to establish their best legal tax position, to implement the most updated and appropriate tax strategies, and to provide for them the information they need for management decisions.

He currently manages his firm in the SF Bay Area having represented thousands of small business clients; while staying focused on his specialty for over 25 years – Strategizing for Small Business to achieve their best overall tax results. Though the majority of the clientele he has served consists of average to above-average smaller business owners, other notables include several highly successful health professionals, multi-millionaire real estate investors, authors, and highly-regarded Silicon Valley business consultants.

With eagerness he looks forward to assisting in the success of his next small business client.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_C_Turner

As a parent, I’m always looking for ways to teach my children life long lessons about money. One of the best teaching tools I have found is money! What I really like about money as a teaching tool is not only its effectiveness in teaching my children, but also its effectiveness in reducing my taxes!

In a recent article, I asked you to think about this question:

What Tasks Can Your Children Do For Your Business?

What tasks did you come up with? Here are some of the more common tasks:

- Filing
- Cleaning
- Answering phones
- Running errands
- Data entry
- Maintaining the company’s online presence
- Updating the company website
- Research

As you can see from this short list, the tasks can range from simple to complex depending on your child’s skill set. The more advanced your child’s skill set, the more your child can earn – keep reading to find out why this is a good thing!

- How To Legally Reduce Your Taxes By Hiring Your Children -

When your company pays your children, this is money that your company would usually:

Distribute or pay to you, or
Pay to another employee to do the tasks

If the money is distributed or paid to you, it is taxed at your individual tax rate. If the money is paid to another employee, then that money is leaving your family circle and can no longer work for you and your family.

Having your company hire your children keeps the money in your family and moves the income from your tax rate to your children’s tax rates.

Your children’s tax rates start at 0%. This means if you are in a 30% tax rate, then paying your children shifts income from your 30% tax rate to your children’s 0% tax rate and you reduce your taxes!

- Your Children’s Tax Rates -

The first $5,450 of earned income to each child is taxed at 0%. What happens if your children earn more than this amount? You may still save taxes because your children also have 10% and 15% tax brackets. This provides great opportunity to shift your income to a lower tax bracket!

What about payroll taxes?

Your business and your child may be responsible for payroll taxes, which total approximately 15%. Don’t forget to factor this in when you are calculating how much you save in taxes by hiring your children.

However, there are exceptions to this rule. These exceptions exempt some businesses from having to pay payroll taxes on wages paid to children of the owners. The rules are very specific to each situation so be sure to discuss this with your tax coach.

Getting your children in the game and on your payroll provides many opportunities to reduce your taxes. Even more exciting is what your children can do with this money to put their money to work.

Tom Wheelwright is not only the founder and CEO of Provision, but he is the creative force behind Provision Wealth Strategists. In addition to his management responsibilities, Tom likes to coach clients on wealth, business, and tax strategies. Along with his frequent seminars on these strategies, Tom is an adjunct professor in the Masters of Tax program at Arizona State University. For more information please visit http://www.provisionwealth.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_Wheelwright

There are many ways your children can put their money to work. Here are two of those ways:

#1 Have Your Children Pay for Their Extras

One thing most parents agree on is that children can be expensive! All the extras add up – sports, lessons, toys, games, the latest gadgets. All parents know this list can go on and on. Rather than paying for your children’s extras with your after-tax dollars, have your children pay for their extras with their after-tax dollars. Your children’s after-tax dollars are much cheaper than yours – especially if they are in a 0% tax rate!

What I love about this strategy is it reduces my taxes AND gives my children real life experience with managing their own finances.

#2 Have Your Children Fund a Roth IRA

Typically children do not have IRAs because in order to make a contribution to an IRA, the IRA owner must have earned income. Since most children do not have earned income, an IRA is not an option.

When you have your business hire your children, not only do you have the opportunity to reduce your taxes, but you have also created the opportunity for your children to contribute to an IRA. Once your children have earned income, they are eligible to contribute to an IRA.

In most cases, I find that a Roth IRA is a better fit for children than a traditional IRA. One reason is because distributions from a Roth IRA are tax-free. In a traditional IRA, distributions are taxable income. This means that all the income earned in a Roth IRA will never be taxed! Of course, the rules of the Roth IRA must be followed to receive this treatment but I find that most of the time, the rules of the Roth IRA are easier to follow than those of a traditional IRA.

The power of time is huge in this strategy because even modest contributions to a Roth IRA at a young age can grow to a substantial balance by the time your children are even just middle aged! Add to that the tax-free nature of the Roth IRA and it’s easy to understand why this strategy can be so powerful for your children.

Another reason I like the Roth IRA for children is that there are several exceptions to the early withdrawal penalty (which can make Roth IRA earnings and contributions taxable). These exceptions provide opportunity for your children to take distributions without penalty long before they reach retirement age.

Tom Wheelwright is not only the founder and CEO of Provision, but he is the creative force behind Provision Wealth Strategists. In addition to his management responsibilities, Tom likes to coach clients on wealth, business, and tax strategies. Along with his frequent seminars on these strategies, Tom is an adjunct professor in the Masters of Tax program at Arizona State University. For more information, visit http://www.provisionwealth.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_Wheelwright

Creating a Money Management Education Plan to properly educate your children about money requires three important and co-dependent elements:

1. Earning Money – Any Money Management program must begin with creating money for a child to manage. This is done by creating an allowance program so they can begin earning money.
2. Saving Money – This part of the program focuses on teaching a child how to save what they’ve earned. This is broken down into two additional parts: short-term savings (to be used for the spending portion of the money management education plan) and long-term savings.
3. Spending Money – This teaches a child how to manage their expenses. The money for this comes from their short-term savings, or what I like to call their discretionary income.

Earning Money

If a child is too young to earn money, an allowance will do just fine. But this allowance must be tied to some chore, task or responsibility. It is difficult for most children under a certain age to fully grasp the need to make and manage money so you may want to hold off until they are old enough so that the lesson will not be lost on them. Since each child is different, there is no hard and fast rule as to what would be a good age to begin their education. In my opinion, age ten is a good general age to begin a money management education plan, which will include an allowance program.

Before you begin any allowance program you should develop a plan. Any plan should have four fundamental elements:

1. A Weekly List: Create a weekly list showing the chores/responsibilities by day of the week starting Sunday and ending Saturday.
2. A Check Off: Include on your list a section for a check off for each chore/responsibility. Have your child take on the responsibility for checking off each completed task, each day of each week.
3. The Payoff: At the end of the week (Saturday) have a family get together with a review of the completed tasks for the week. If all tasks have been completed and checked off then your child is given their allowance.

How much of an allowance should you give a child? The point of the entire money management education plan is to provide a child with a general understanding of how money works, so the amount of the allowance is unimportant. As a general rule $5 a week works fine, until they become teenagers. Then everything changes. For now, keep it simple and affordable, for you. Consider giving your child an allowance in smaller denominations – for example, five ones instead of one $5 bill. This way a portion of the allowance can be easily deposited into the piggy bank.

Saving Money

One of the most valuable lessons you can teach a child is the value of saving what they earn or receive. The piggy bank is really a tangible metaphor for establishing what financial planners call a long-term savings plan. The funds in the piggy bank can be periodically invested into a passbook account or some other investment for your child down the road, but the piggy bank is an important tool to help in the education process. As an enticement to save, you may want to add a matching feature to reward your child for saving their allowance. For example, you may agree to match whatever money your child has accumulated in their piggy bank over a period of time. This could be a fun thing for everyone. A neat idea my wife and I used with our kids was to clean out the piggy bank after each month and match whatever was in our child’s piggy bank. There is another reason for doing this. Kids may be tempted to periodically deplete the piggy bank and use the money for candy or something else. Matching not only motivates your child to save but also creates accountability. If your child takes money out of the piggy bank, they know you will find out, since the agreed-upon savings will not equal what was actually in the piggy bank at the end of the month. In the business world we call this budget vs. actual. Businesses close out the month to see if their forecasted profits equal their actual profits.

Spending Money

No money management education plan for a child is complete without helping educate them on how to manage spending their money. To help them spend their money wisely, have your child create a monthly “wish list” of things they would like to spend their money on during the month. We call this wish list in business, a budget. By setting up a wish list you are actually helping them budget their monthly expenditures. The important thing here is to make sure that whatever they decide to spend their money on during the month represents purchases that you do not ordinarily make for them. For example, if your child tells you they are going to spend their money on candy for the month, then they need to understand that you will not be buying them any candy, for that month. They are now responsible for their candy purchases for the month. If they want to use it for movie tickets then you cannot be giving them additional money to go to the movies during the month.

They need to learn how to manage the money they have available. If you provide them with money for the same items they have listed on their wish list, then they will get confused and not grasp the point of managing their spending. This creates accountability by putting your children in control of how their money is spent each month; knowing that when the money is gone so is their ability to spend. If you give into the demands from your child for more money for the things that are on their wish list, then you are undermining the money management education process. Of course you are going to give your kids money for things they want. Let’s not kid ourselves. Just don’t give them money for the things that they have put on their wish list. Those things are the responsibility of your children and they need to know that you are not going to come to their rescue if they need more money for the candy that is on their wish list. So when your child develops their wish list make sure the items they list are items that can be managed, like candy and movie tickets. I am opposed to allowing them to include large ticket items on their wish list as this does help educate them on how to manage their spending. What spending lesson will they learn if they put an ipod on their wish list? Buying a large ticket item, like an iPod, is really more a savings lesson, not a spending lesson.

Think of your child’s money management education plan as a stool held up by three legs. The first leg is Earning Money, the second leg is Saving Money, and the third leg is Spending Money. If any one of these legs is missing, your stool will topple over.

It is a fact that the average American is heavily in debt. We are a society of debtors with our Federal Government leading the way. It is my opinion that one of the primary reasons for all of this debt is that our very own parents never understood how money works and thus could not educate our generation on fundamental money management principles. We have the opportunity to reverse this trend. As parents we have a moral responsibility to teach our children these fundamental money management principles and help them secure a brighter future for themselves and their children.

Tom is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Financial Planner, CLTC (Certified Long-Term Care) and President of Cerefice & Company, the largest CPA firm in Rahway, New Jersey. Tom works with clients helping them manage their money, retirement planning, college savings, life insurance needs, IRAs and qualified plan rollovers with an eye towards maximizing tax benefits and minimizing taxes. Tom is founder of the Rich Habits Institute and author of “Rich Habits”.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Thomas_Corley