February 14, 2018 by Gregory S. Dowell In a recent article from Hartford Insurance titled “Is Your Small Business in One of the 10 Worst Industries? Here Are Some Ideas”, author Gene Marks refers to research performed by Sageworks, which is a company that gathers and collects data on various industries and re-sells it to…
by Gregory S. Dowell January 31, 2018 Since the consumer’s use of the internet became widespread (a few years after it was invented by Al Gore), one of the thorniest issues has been the taxation of sales that are made over the internet to out-of-state residents. The Supreme Court has recently agreed to take up…
by Gregory S. Dowell On December 22, President Trump signed into law the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (P.L. 115-97), a sweeping tax reform law that will entirely change the tax landscape. This article describes key business tax changes that are made under the Act, including a reduction in the corporate tax rate to…
The following is the content of a recent release from the Illinois Secretary of State: December 20, 2017 White Announces Limited Liability Company Filing Fees Reduced by New Law SB 867 – effective immediately – reduces filing fees for limited liability companies Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is announcing that a new law…
By Gary Lasker The Internal Revenue Service has issued the 2018 optional standard mileage rates. Starting January 1, 2018, the standard mileage rate for the use of a car, van, pickup, or panel truck will be 54.5 cents per business mile. The portion of the business standard mileage rate that is treated as depreciation will…
by Gregory S. Dowell December 8, 2017 The following letter was prepared and distributed to clients and friends of Dowell Group, LLP. The letter discusses individual and business tax planning ideas that may be appropriate in certain situations. This does not represent tax advice, as every situation must be considered on its own merits. We…
The SSA announced recently that the maximum amount of wages in 2018 subject to the 6.2% social security tax will be $128,700, up from $127,200. Using this new wage base, a taxpayer could pay a maximum of $7,979.40 in 2018 in social security taxes, up from $7,886.40 in 2017. There is no change to the…
September 11, 2017 When Equifax announced last week that its data systems had been compromised by a hacker during the May to July timeframe of this year, every consumer in the U.S. should have taken notice. Names, addresses, social security numbers and financial information were exposed to hackers. As one of the three huge credit…
By Gregory S. Dowell August 10, 2017 Quietly and with virtually no advanced warning, Cook County passed the “Cook County Earned Sick Leave Ordinance” (Ordinance 16-4229). This ordinance provides that, as of July 1, 2017, employers in Cook County are required to provide paid sick leave to their employees. Making this more confusing, many municipalities…
by Alex Gershengorn August 1, 2017 As a result of the passage of the Illinois budget, you may have heard that Illinois enacted S.B.9 (P.A. 100-0022) involving a $5 billion hike in income taxes. The major changes are summarized here for your convenience: Increased Income Tax Rate – The Illinois income tax for individuals, trusts,…