A business might pay an independent contractor and an employee for the same or similar work, but there are key legal differences between the two. It is critical for business owners to correctly determine whether the people providing services are employees or independent contractors.

Here's some information to help business owners avoid problems that can result from misclassifying workers.

An employee is generally considered anyone who performs services, if the business can control what will be done and how it will be done. What matters is that the business has the right to control the details of how the worker's services are performed. Independent contractors are normally people in an independent trade, business or profession in which they offer their services to the public.

There are a few things business owners need to do before they close their business. Of course, they need to fulfill their federal tax responsibilities. It's also important to notify the IRS of their plans.

Charitable remainder trusts are irrevocable trusts that let you donate assets to charity and draw annual income for life or for a specific time period.

We closely examine charitable remainder trusts to ensure they:

• Correctly report trust income and distributions to beneficiaries
• File all required tax documents
• Follow all applicable tax laws and rules

How a Charitable Remainder Trust Works

In a charitable remainder trust:

Did you know that there is a Taxpayer Bill of Rights to help protect all taxpayers?

Taxpayers have the right to expect that any IRS inquiry, examination, or enforcement action will comply with the law and be no more intrusive than necessary. Taxpayers can also expect that the IRS will respect all due process rights, including search and seizure protections and will provide, where applicable, a collection due process hearing.

This tax court ruling shows how important it is you have a tax advisor that is well versed in business returns.

Many people work for a family member, whether it's a child helping out at their parent's shop or spouses running a business together. When someone is employed by a family member, the tax implications depend on the relationship and the type of business. It's important for taxpayers and employers to understand their tax situation.

I sometimes run into clients who have to take large distributions from their traditional IRAs and it bumps them into higher tax brackets even though they don't really need the money to live on. Here is one solution to avoid some of that taxation and do some good for the world.

IRA owners age 70½ or older have an option to transfer up to $100,000 to a qualified charitable organization (QCD) each year. For taxpayers born after June 30, 1949, the SECURE Act raised the required beginning date (RBD) for required minimum distributions to age 72. However, eligibility to make a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) remains at age 70½, regardless of the taxpayer’s required beginning date.

One of the most common questions I get from people opening a business for the first time is, 'How do I deduct all of the many expenses incurred before the business actually opens its doors?' Most of these can be handled as either start-up expenses or organizational expenses. You can think of organization expenses as creating the paperwork part of a business and start-up expenses as setting up the physical structure of a business.

Business start-up expenses are those incurred for investigating or creating an active trade or business and the cost must meet these two requirements: