Blog & Article
Recent Blog Post
Tax Planning Around Inflation
One of the more frequent questions I am asked is, “How can I reduce my tax liabilities?” While this is always a good question to ask, it is all the more important when inflation affects our daily budgets. Probably the most common response to inflation in general is to...
Life Insurance Loans
Today’s topic will not affect very many people. Did I just encourage you to skip reading the article? Hopefully, you do not tune out because, for those today’s topic does affect, the information may prevent financial disaster. Cash value life insurance, such as whole...
Tax Impacts of Gifts
A reader requested a better understanding of the tax impacts of gifts. This is a question we sometimes field in the office, so it is on the minds of many folks. We will cover several topics within gifts. Gifts are generally tax-neutral. Tax is only imposed when the...
Keeping Financial Resolutions in 2026
In the last edition, we covered part one of making financial resolutions for 2026. The first part is uncovering information to target problem areas and implementing positive steps to change behavior. In this second part, we will consider why resolutions are so easily...
A Financial Planner’s New Year’s Resolutions
Happy new year! If you have not finished your New Year’s Resolutions, today’s topic may help. Saving more and spending less are consistently in the top 10 most common resolutions. Unfortunately, changing financial habits is also a most common resolution to break. I...
Reading Penalty and Interest Notices
Now that we made it past the extension filing deadline, we should turn our attention to penalty and interest letters. This post specifically applies to businesses and residents of Haywood County and other North Carolina counties which were included in the Helene...
Tax Matters for Short-Term Rentals
Rental activity income is generally reported on Schedule E (individuals) or Form 8825 (Partnerships) for federal income tax purposes. In recent years, as short-term rentals are on the rise, proper reporting of rental income has generated questions for which...
Preserve Family Harmony Through Elder Care Accounting
Elder care accounting falls within the scope of services provided by accountants and tax professionals. Today, we will blend two topics together to illustrate the usefulness of elder care accounting. Elder care accounting is provided for elderly individuals who have...
Deducting Disaster Losses
A question many Haywood County residents will be asking this tax season is whether a deduction is permissible for disaster losses. Today’s discussion will primarily be for individuals with losses to a primary residence and household furnishings. Disaster loss rules...
Mental Accounting: When Managing Money in Your Head Isn’t Enough
We tend to compartmentalize the various parts of our lives Friends, family, work, money,hobbies, and faith are each parts of our lives we put into separate compartments. Of course, thisoften occurs subconsciously. Compartmentalizing money is also known as “mental...
Recent credit card statistics indicate a not-so-good trend.
Recent credit card statistics indicate a not-so-good trend. Late payments and defaults are rising, and it’s not just credit cards. Car loan statistics are following similar trends. The trend indicates that money is tight for many households and that personal debt is...
Financial Fitness
With the New Year comes an opportunity for resolutions. Many of us make resolutions at this time of year. Unfortunately, sometime during the New Year we tend to abandon or forget those resolutions. Two of the most popular New Years resolutions are to save money and...
Cryptocurrency Taxation After The Jarrett Case
Blog post by R. Joseph Ritter, Jr. CFP® EA A client recently made me aware of a federal court case involving cryptocurrency taxation. This post will review how the case may impact the future of cryptocurrency taxation. In Jarrett v. USA, the taxpayers correctly...
How to Break the Cycle of Debt with a Realistic Budget
In our August 2022 column, we introduced a few specific methods of sticking to a budget. We will review some of those methods in more detail in this and the next few columns. Financial messes usually occur when cash flow is tight. Although this can be from a job loss,...
Building a Profitable Business from the Start
Whatever we may think about the last two years, there has certainly been an increase in the number of entrepreneurs. This is rather exciting! Starting and running your own business comes with a great deal of freedom and independence. It can also come with a...
Breaking Free from Financial Stress
A number of years ago, I was sitting in my doctor’s office and saw this quote hanging on the wall: “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” - Anais Nin This quote has been applicable to a variety of...
From Passive to Non-Passive:
Real Estate Investments
Real estate by default is treated as a passive activity for income tax purposes. This means that passive income is included in Adjusted Gross Income, however, passive losses can only be offset by other passive income. In many cases, real estate investing can produce...
…but you’re not a CPA!
There are many different credentials among tax and financial professionals, and even for a professional office like ours, the variety of credentials can get confusing. The CPA license is the most common among tax and accounting matters. It is widely recognizable, and...
Can An S Corporation Shareholder Have an HRA?
This is a question I am receiving more frequently, and it seems fitting to address it in a blog post. There are also quite a few articles on this topic, but nearly all of them leave out important points and background information. The question is usually posed by a...
How Is Cryptocurrency Taxed?
Cryptocurrency is gaining more widespread acceptance as an alternative form of payment and transfer of assets. The question that invariably arises is how will cryptocurrency be taxed? The tax landscape is most likely subject to change, however, currently, there are...
Correcting a TIAA RMD Rollover
A client came recently with a TIAA 403(b) and traditional IRA seeking help correcting a TIAA RMD rollover mistake. For a number of years, the client had been able to roll taxable distributions from TIAA into the IRA. Each distribution contained both an RMD which the...
Premium Tax Credit Case: Part 1
https://youtu.be/POZ3Qtl7pHk R. Joseph Ritter Jr. CFP® EA discusses the ongoing saga of a premium tax credit case which involved mistakes by the Marketplace. #premiumtaxcredits #AffordableCareAct #marketplace #taxtips
Coaching for Startup Businesses
https://youtu.be/z0SIhRlaYJQ R. Joseph Ritter Jr. CFP® EA reviews the 2020 tax season after working with micro and small business startups. In this short coaching video, he discusses some basic tips for making your business venture profitable. #smallbusiness...
Popular Post
Tax Planning Around Inflation
One of the more frequent questions I am asked is, “How can I reduce my tax liabilities?” While this is always a good question to ask, it is all the more important when inflation affects our daily budgets. Probably the most common response to inflation in general is to...
Life Insurance Loans
Today’s topic will not affect very many people. Did I just encourage you to skip reading the article? Hopefully, you do not tune out because, for those today’s topic does affect, the information may prevent financial disaster. Cash value life insurance, such as whole...
Tax Impacts of Gifts
A reader requested a better understanding of the tax impacts of gifts. This is a question we sometimes field in the office, so it is on the minds of many folks. We will cover several topics within gifts. Gifts are generally tax-neutral. Tax is only imposed when the...
Keeping Financial Resolutions in 2026
In the last edition, we covered part one of making financial resolutions for 2026. The first part is uncovering information to target problem areas and implementing positive steps to change behavior. In this second part, we will consider why resolutions are so easily...
A Financial Planner’s New Year’s Resolutions
Happy new year! If you have not finished your New Year’s Resolutions, today’s topic may help. Saving more and spending less are consistently in the top 10 most common resolutions. Unfortunately, changing financial habits is also a most common resolution to break. I...
Reading Penalty and Interest Notices
Now that we made it past the extension filing deadline, we should turn our attention to penalty and interest letters. This post specifically applies to businesses and residents of Haywood County and other North Carolina counties which were included in the Helene...
Tax Matters for Short-Term Rentals
Rental activity income is generally reported on Schedule E (individuals) or Form 8825 (Partnerships) for federal income tax purposes. In recent years, as short-term rentals are on the rise, proper reporting of rental income has generated questions for which...
Preserve Family Harmony Through Elder Care Accounting
Elder care accounting falls within the scope of services provided by accountants and tax professionals. Today, we will blend two topics together to illustrate the usefulness of elder care accounting. Elder care accounting is provided for elderly individuals who have...
Deducting Disaster Losses
A question many Haywood County residents will be asking this tax season is whether a deduction is permissible for disaster losses. Today’s discussion will primarily be for individuals with losses to a primary residence and household furnishings. Disaster loss rules...
Mental Accounting: When Managing Money in Your Head Isn’t Enough
We tend to compartmentalize the various parts of our lives Friends, family, work, money,hobbies, and faith are each parts of our lives we put into separate compartments. Of course, thisoften occurs subconsciously. Compartmentalizing money is also known as “mental...