Here’s To Your Health (insurance)
July 14, 2010 | 
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Does your dental practice employ less than 25 full time employees? Are you a dentist who provides health insurance benefits for your employees? If you answered yes, then you may qualify for a nice small-business healthcare tax credit. The credit is available from 2010-2013.
I am going to be tossing out some crazy terms so just bear with me and read along.
Of course your dental practice otherwise known as an Eligible Small Employer (ESE) must meet certain criteria to be able to claim this credit:
- The dental practice can employ no more than 25 Full-time Equivalent (FTE) employees who average no more than $50,000 in yearly wages. If your dental practice employs 10 or fewer (FTE) employees with average yearly wages of $25,000 you may qualify for a higher credit.
- You must have a qualified health insurance plan in effect.
- You must pay at least 50% of the premium based on single coverage of each employee’s coverage.
Dentists who are sole proprietors or partners as well as 2% shareholders of an S corporation and dependents of these self-employed individuals are excluded from this calculation.
The credit for those dentists with 10 or fewer FTE’s who meet all of the criteria can be as much as 35% of the contributions the dental practice made to the qualified health plan to purchase qualifying health insurance coverage for it s employees.
That is a lot of “qualifiers” and the calculation of all these FTE’s and FTE wages can get pretty hairy so I don’t suggest you try this at home. If you feel your dental practice makes the grade talk to your CPA and let him run the numbers for you. There could be a nice credit available to offset some taxes at the end of the year.
Questions for Larry?
larry.goldberg@glassjacobson.com
Summer Vacation-5 Facts about Childcare Tax Credits
July 12, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Your summer day care expenses may qualify for an income tax credit.
Many parents who work or are looking for work must arrange for care of their children (under the age of 13) during summer vacation. These expenses could qualify you for a credit on next year’s tax return.
The Child and Dependent Care Credit is available during the summer (and throughout the rest of the year). Here are 5 facts you need to know:
- The cost of day camp may count as an expense towards the child and dependent care credit.
- Expenses for overnight camps do not qualify.
- If your childcare provider is a sitter at your home or a daycare facility outside the home, you’ll get some tax benefit if you qualify for the credit.
- The actual credit can be up to 35 percent of your qualifying expenses, depending upon your income.
- You may use up to $3,000 of the unreimbursed expenses paid in a year for one qualifying individual or $6,000 for two or more qualifying individuals to figure the credit.
Submitted by Sam Cohen
Questions?
Unfavorable Tax Change Looming for Dental Practices
July 7, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
A recent legislative proposal may put an end to a favorable tax situation for dentists taxed as S-corporations.
Dentists being taxed as S-corporation entities beware; a huge tax hike looms on the horizon. Included in the bill known as the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010 (now that is getting right to the point) is a provision that would tax S-Corporation net income after all expenses as self employment income.
Currently, only the first $106,800 of dentist shareholders wages are taxed at 15.3% and at 2.9% for wages above that amount. Any net income after salary and expenses flows through to the shareholder’s individual tax return and are taxed at individual tax rates only. This proposal would affect dental practices of three or fewer shareholder dentists by making the S Corporation net profit be subject to the 15.3% self employment tax on ordinary income in addition to being taxed at the individual rate.
This would eliminate the situation where a dentist takes an unreasonably low salary to avoid paying Social Security and Medicare taxes on wages and then takes “compensation” in the form of distribution payments. It was just this type of strategy that helped taxwriters decide it was time to take action against these dentist S-corporation shareholders from gaming the system.
While the law has yet to be passed it bears careful watching due to the large tax bite this will take out of those dentists being taxed as S-corporations. Ouch!
Glass Jacobson’s Tammy Schneider Elected President of Camp Fire USA Baltimore
July 7, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Jeffrey Bukowski
Bukowski Public Relations
443-655-3774
jdbukowski@bukowskipr.com
Glass Jacobson’s Tammy Schneider Elected President of Camp Fire USA Baltimore
Will Serve Two-Year Term for Learning and Leadership Organization
OWINGS MILLS, Md. – July 7, 2010 – Camp Fire USA Baltimore, a leading experiential learning program, is pleased to announce the election of Tammy Schneider as the organization’s president and chairperson of the board. Ms. Schneider’s term begins immediately.
She replaces Erin Lineberry of Laureate Education, who served a two-year term prior and will continue to serve on the board.
Under Schneider’s leadership, the board will focus on securing additional, ongoing support, particularly from the corporate sector.
“I am extremely proud to serve as president and chair for this very important organization,” Ms. Schneider said. “I have had the privilege of serving on the board with a great group of people and am eager to oversee Camp Fire USA Baltimore as we continue to grow and make a difference in the lives of Maryland children.”
Ms. Schneider is an accountant at Owings Mills-based CPA wealth management firm Glass Jacobson, where she uses her expertise to help business owners achieve their business and personal financial goals, and has long specialized in guiding women business owners. In addition to her long-standing work at Campfire USA Baltimore, she also sits on Junior Achievement MD’s Associate Council and contributes bi-monthly articles to the Independent Insurance Agents of MD’s “Maryland Messenger” publication. Ms. Schneider is a supporting member National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and volunteers time with Mechanicsville Elementary School PTA, Carroll County YMCA Sports, Oasis Homeless Shelter and her church.
About Camp Fire USA Baltimore
Serving hundreds of young people annually through after-school programs and summer day camps, Campfire USA Baltimore builds caring, confident youth and future leaders. Through its
socially responsible and environmentally focused experiential learning programs, Campfire USA Baltimore teaches children to be creative, work together as a team, communicate their ideas and manage conflicts. For more information, please visit http://www.discovercfusa.org.
About Glass Jacobson
Founded in Baltimore in 1962 as a traditional CPA firm, Glass Jacobson has evolved into a wealth management firm to better serve its clients’ diverse, ever-growing financial needs. Today, the firm’s unique Wealth Management Model brings together the essential services of Investment Management, Advanced Planning and Relationship Management, and delivers them with unparalleled expertise and professionalism.
Serving as a personal CFO, Glass Jacobson looks beyond the numbers to get to the core of every client’s financial situation. The firm delivers a full team of in-house CPAs, investment advisors, financial planners and insurance specialists to every client. To learn more about Glass Jacobson, please see www.glassjacobson.com.
2010 Estate Tax and Charitable Giving
June 30, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
So far, there is no estate tax in place for 2010. That means if you bequeath money to charity in your will, that bequest won’t save any estate tax as it had in the past.
So, instead of a tax-useless charitable bequest, make a specific bequest to your heirs with a non-biding request that they make the requested charitable contribution. The heir will obtain an income tax charitable contribution deduction which is quite a tax improvement.
Submitted by Sam Cohen
Questions?