Theresa Arndt, CPA

This month the first cars to be fully powered by electricity were released by many of the major auto makers. The new fully electrical vehicles, the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf, have no drivetrain and no combustion engine. They are leading the way for the new green revolution in the auto industry. Uncle Sam has promised big tax credits of up to $7,500 for those who purchase any of the new electric models.   This is an attempt to increase consumer interest in green technology.   At the moment consumers are concerned about battery life and whether the infrastructure is in place to support an electric vehicle.   But these big tax breaks may be just enough to make you take a second look. If you are thinking about buying a green vehicle, here is what you need to know.   How much is the credit: This credit is up to $7,500.   A credit is worth more than a deduction; how so?   A deduction reduces your taxable income, so the value depends on your tax bracket.  If you are in the 25% t

Part of being a good CPA partner to my client’s businesses is keeping track of industry trends that can eat into their bottom line.   Many of my clients are in the construction industry so today’s topic is of particular interest to them. The residential construction industry is receiving a lot of unwanted attention from OSHA for the first time.   Injuries on residential projects have increased and now OSHA has named the Residential Construction Industry as a target industry In December 2010, OSHA introduced stronger worker safeguards to prevent falls in residential construction.   The new standards for residential construction were scheduled to go into effect on June 15, 2011, but OSHA announced a three-month phase in to allow employers time to gear up to meet the compliance requirements.   The phase in period is over and the new directive is now fully in place as of September 15, 2011. If you are a residential contractor, general or sub, are you in compliance with the new di

As year-end approaches many of my clients start thinking about next year’s tax bill and what they can do to manage it.   Since the business use of a vehicle can be one of the larger deductions, a new set of wheels is usually the first to come to their mind.   That’s why it doesn’t surprise me when a client calls to ask if he can buy a new $40,000 car for his business and write the whole thing off.     Thanks to some new tax breaks this year, you actually can write off the full cost of purchasing a new luxury SUV – provided it’s used 100% for business and its gross vehicle weight is more than 6,000 pounds.   The vehicles that qualify for the 100% write off are gas guzzlers, but your business may have a need to haul people and materials and can justify the extra fuel costs. For lighter SUVs, passenger cars and light trucks the first-year depreciation is much smaller.   Example 1: Your business buys a new $89,200 BMW X6M and uses it 100% for business between now and December 31.  

It seems like every week I hear the same old story that home property values are continuing to decline.   But you know one thing that I don’t see dropping… my property taxes.     In fact, they went up again this year. L If you feel that that your tax bill is too high, statistics show you are probably right.   According to this WSJ article , half of you may be paying too much.     Sadly, though, only about 5% of you will make an attempt to challenge the assessment because of the misconception that the process is too difficult. So if you are a homeowner and you want to learn how to lower your property taxes, then today’s lesson may very well help you do that. Let's begin by understanding the relationship between property taxes and housing prices. In theory we should see a correlation between home values and property taxes.   Taxes rise when house prices increase and taxes fall when prices decline.   This simple relationship would hold true if taxes were a constant percenta