Everyone wants to save money on their taxes, and retirees and older adults are no exception. If you’re 50 or older, here are six tax tips that could help you do just that.

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Are you wondering if there’s a hard and fast rule about what income is taxable and what income is not? The quick answer is that all income is taxable unless the law specifically excludes it. But as you might have guessed, there’s more to it than that.

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Most people file a tax return because they have to, but even if you don’t, you might be eligible for a tax refund and not know it. The tax tips below should help determine whether you must file a tax return this year.

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This quarter’s employee spotlight is another triple feature as Natalie Nguyen, Joseling Torrez, and Helen Phan all earned the title of Employee of the Quarter through their valuable contributions to the firm.

Natalie demonstrates excellent project management skills, successfully managing a large volume of PPP and ERC projects over the last 2 years. She takes the lead on several large family client groups, continues to improve her technical skills in more advanced areas and is extremely proactive in her work.

Joseling is highly accountable. Like Natalie she maintains a high level of technical skill – working on a recent $30M partnership sale project. Joseling has also been a huge help to the recruiting committee and additionally serves as an onboarding process liaison.

Helen demonstrates strong ownership of her projects. She is proactive in getting projects off the ground, following up externally and internally. Whenever Helen encounters a new problem, she researches and provides solutions.

Congratulations to Natalie, Joseling and Helen for being selected as this quarter’s Employees of the Quarter!

Please join us in welcoming the arrival of Prasanti Mishra’s newborn baby girl, Akshara!

Akshara Mishra was born on Wednesday, January 11th. Both Prasanti and baby are doing well. Congratulations to Prasanti!

The office of Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that California will conform to the filing extensions granted by the IRS for California storm victims. The FTB has officially extended filing and payment deadlines for applicable individuals and businesses until May 15, 2023.

This relief applies to all of the following deadlines:

• Individual income tax returns;
• Business return filings normally due between March 15 and April 18, 2023;
• Fourth quarter (2022) and first quarter (2023) estimated tax payments due on January 17, 2023, and April 18, 2023 respectively. Individual taxpayers can skip making the fourth quarter estimated tax payment and instead include it with the 2022 return as long as the return is filed on or before May 15, 2023;
• IRA and health savings account (HSA) contributions; and
• Quarterly payroll and excise tax returns, normally due on January 31, 2023, and April 30, 2023.

The FTB also announced they would suspend the mailing of collection notices to affected taxpayers for 30 days, beginning January 13, 2023.

The relief is automatically available to taxpayers who reside or have a business in the following counties:

Alameda Butte Calaveras Colusa Contra Costa El Dorado Fresno Glenn Humboldt Kings Lake Los Angeles Madera Marin Mariposa Mendocino Merced Mono Monterey Napa Orange Placer

Riverside Sacramento San Benito San Bernardino San Diego San Francisco San Joaquin San Luis Obispo San Mateo Santa Barbara Santa Clara Santa Cruz Siskiyou Solano Sonoma Stanislaus Sutter Tehama Trinity Tulare Ventura Yolo Yuba

To read the Governor’s news release for yourself, follow this link.

With many businesses facing a tight job market, employers should know about a valuable tax credit available to them for hiring long-term unemployment recipients and other groups of workers facing significant barriers to employment. If your business is hiring right now, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) may help.

Background

Legislation enacted in December extended the WOTC through the end of 2025. This long-standing tax benefit encourages employers to hire workers certified as members of any of the ten targeted groups facing barriers to employment. Millions of Americans have been out of work at one time or another since the pandemic began. Still, one of these targeted groups is long-term unemployment recipients who have been unemployed for at least 27 consecutive weeks and have received state or federal unemployment benefits during part or all that time.

Eligible Employees

The other groups include certain veterans and recipients of various kinds of public assistance, among others. Specifically, the ten groups are:

• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients,
• Unemployed veterans, including disabled veterans,
• Formerly incarcerated individuals,
• Designated community residents living in Empowerment Zones or Rural Renewal Counties,
• Vocational rehabilitation referrals,
• Summer youth employees living in Empowerment Zones,
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients,
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients,
• Long-term family assistance recipients,
• Long-term unemployment recipients.

Qualifying for the Credit

To qualify for the credit, an employer must first request certification by submitting IRS Form 8850, Pre-screening Notice and Certification Request for the Work Opportunity Credit, to their state workforce agency (SWA). Do not submit this form to the IRS.

Form 8850 must be submitted to the SWA within 28 days after the eligible worker begins work. Eligible businesses claim the WOTC on their federal income tax return. It is generally based on wages paid to eligible workers during the first year of employment. The credit is first figured on Form 5884, Work Opportunity Credit, and then is claimed on Form 3800, General Business Credit.

Though the credit is not available to tax-exempt organizations for most groups of new hires, a special rule allows them to claim the WOTC for hiring qualified veterans. These organizations claim the credit against payroll taxes on Form 5884-C, Work Opportunity Credit for Qualified Tax-Exempt Organizations.

If you are a small business owner who wants to take advantage of this tax-saving credit but is not sure you qualify, help is just a phone call away.

San Jose: (408) 252-1800

Watsonville: (831) 726-8500

There’s never an off-season when it comes to scammers and thieves who want to trick people into scamming them out of money, stealing their personal information, or talking them into engaging in questionable behavior with their taxes. While scam attempts typically peak during tax season, taxpayers need to remain vigilant all year long. As such, it is once again time to remind taxpayers that while gift cards make great presents for loved ones, they cannot be used to pay taxes.

Nonetheless, that doesn’t stop scammers from targeting taxpayers by asking them to pay a fake tax bill with holiday gift cards. Scammers may also use a compromised email account to send emails requesting gift card purchases for friends, family, or co-workers.

How the Scam Works:

• The most common way scammers request gift cards is over the phone through a government impersonation scam. However, they will also request gift cards by sending a text message, email, or social media.
• A scammer posing as an IRS agent will call the taxpayer or leave a voicemail with a callback number informing the taxpayer that they are linked to some criminal activity. For example, the scammer will tell the taxpayer their identity has been stolen and used to open fake bank accounts.
• The scammer will threaten or harass the taxpayer by telling them that they must pay a fictitious tax penalty.
• The scammer instructs the taxpayer to buy gift cards from various stores.
• Once the taxpayer buys the gift cards, the scammer will ask the taxpayer to provide the gift card number and PIN.

How to Know if it’s Really the IRS calling:

The IRS will never:

• Call to demand immediate payment using a specific payment method such as a gift card, prepaid debit card, or wire transfer. Generally, the IRS will first mail a bill to any taxpayer who owes taxes.
• Demand that taxpayers pay taxes without the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they owe. All taxpayers should be aware of their rights.
• Threaten to bring in local police, immigration officers, or other law enforcement to have the taxpayer arrested for not paying.
• Threaten to revoke the taxpayer’s driver’s license, business license, or immigration status.

If You’ve Been Targeted by a Scammer:

• Contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to report a phone scam. Use their IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting webpage. They can also call 800-366-4484.
• Report phone scams to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the FTC Complaint Assistant on FTC.gov. They should add “IRS phone scam” in the notes.
• Report threatening or harassing telephone calls claiming to be from the IRS to phishing@irs.gov. Please include “IRS phone scam” in the subject line.

San Jose: (408) 252-1800

Watsonville: (831) 726-8500

Beginning on January 1, 2023, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups, or panel trucks) will be as follows. These rates apply to electric and hybrid-electric automobiles and gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles.

• 65.5 cents per mile driven for business use, up 3 cents from the midyear increase setting the rate for the second half of 2022.
• 22 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes for qualified active-duty members of the Armed Forces, consistent with the increased midyear rate set for the second half of 2022.
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations; the rate is set by statute and remains unchanged from 2022.

The standard mileage rate for business use is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile, including depreciation, insurance, repairs, tires, maintenance, gas, and oil. The rate for medical and moving purposes is based on variable costs.

Impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Taxpayers cannot claim a miscellaneous itemized deduction for unreimbursed employee travel expenses. Taxpayers also cannot claim a deduction for moving expenses unless they are members of the Armed Forces on active duty moving under orders to a permanent change of station.

Taxpayers always have the option of calculating the actual costs of using their vehicle rather than using the standard mileage rates.

Taxpayers can use the standard mileage rate but generally must opt to use it in the first year the car is available for business use. Then, in later years, they can choose either the standard mileage rate or actual expenses.

Leased vehicles. Leased vehicles must use the standard mileage rate method for the entire lease period (including renewals) if the standard mileage rate is chosen.

Please contact the office if you have questions about standard mileage rates or which driving activities you should keep track of as the new tax year begins.

San Jose: (408) 252-1800

Watsonville: (831) 726-8500