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You've put it off long enough. Ready to tackle your tax return? We've compiled a top ten list of some important things to keep in mind.

1. Make sure you’re not missing some typically overlooked deductions:

1. State/local taxes paid on last year’s return
2. Charity donations: cash payments (sit down and go through your online bank statement or checkbook and look for cash spent)

2. Check for tax credits that tend to get missed:

3. Energy tax credit: new doors and windows, etc.
4. Foreign tax credit: if got paid dividends from a foreign company

3. IRA and HSA contributions for 2015: you can still make 2015 contributions up to the tax deadline in April.

4. New Ohio tax return form: major changes in our forms this year.

5. If you own a business: good news this year. Ohio’s helped out with the business income deduction. Don’t overlook it.

6. Extension panic: don’t get nervous if you have to file an extension. It is important to remember that the extension is for the return, not the payment. For example, if you owe $500 to the IRS it will still be due on April 18^th (You have a couple of extra days this year, as the deadline was bumped to April 18th instead of the 15th).

7. If you file and it turns out you owe a lot of money that you don’t have, don’t panic.  You can work out a payment plan with the IRS.

8. Already filed and you got a corrected statement? File an amended return.

9. Double check yourself:

• Check and recheck your figures
• Right Social Security number?
• Sign the forms (if paper return)
• Attach all schedules and forms
• Mail return or extension request by April 18 deadline
• Don’t forget postage

10. Need help?

IRS.gov – resources, forms, etc.

Unitedwaytoledo.org or dial 2-1-1

Charlie Heid is a partner specializing in tax services, who joined Gilmore Jasion Mahler, LTD in 2002. He leads our Manufacturing Specialist Group. Charlie shares tax and financial insight monthly on WTOL 11 and Fox Toledo News.

Question: I am an Ohio business owner concerned about sales tax requirements in the state. The exemptions are so confusing. Do I need to worry about this? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Tax Partner Steve Schult's answer: Yes – You should worry about this!  Ohio sales/use tax laws are extremely complicated.  In general, sales and use tax applies to the retail sale, lease and rental of personal property, unless there is a specific exemption (which there are many).  Most services are not subject to sales/use tax.  However there are specific services that are subject to tax. 

I recently heard that approximately 75% of Ohio tax court cases involve sales tax.  I would strongly advise you to meet with your CPA to review the application of these laws.  It is not unusual to see very large assessments on sales tax audits because the company didn’t understand their sales/use tax obligations.

Steve Schult joined Gilmore Jasion Mahler, LTD in 1998. He works with a variety of clients including those in manufacturing and healthcare. Learn more about Steve’s expertise.

Since he was a little boy there’s nowhere Matt Long would rather be than in a farm field. Now 27-years-old, he has fond memories of spending summers with his grandfather on the family farm in Ada.  

“What I always enjoyed about it was just really my dad and my grandpa. I got to spend a lot of time with them every day and I still do. I was with my grandpa every day. He’d have little chores for me to do at the barn. I’d get up and do my chores at home and the barn was just a couple hundred yards away so I’d be gone the rest of the day. “

Matt says his great grandfather John Long purchased the land in 1938 after farming elsewhere in the region dating back to the turn of the century.  He says the Long family farm consists of 420 acres of grain, wheat, beans and corn and is now farmed by Matt, his father Dave Long and his cousin Rod Long.

But you could say Matt is leading a double life. Farmer by day… tax advisor by night.  Actually, the hours sort of mix and mingle with each other.

“Typically we plant in late April or early May. Wheat came off the week of the Fourth of July. We’ll harvest beans in late September or early October, and corn in late October or early November. Tax season fits right in the dead time there.”

Matt is a Senior Tax Associate in the Findlay office of Gilmore Jasion Mahler, LTD and advises clients who work in many industries. He says the tax work he does is very rewarding and it also allows him some flexibility during the farm season.  

He describes farming as the most relaxing thing he does. “I can sit on a tractor for 15 hours a day and it doesn’t bother me a bit. You’re just kind of off by yourself. All that peace and quiet in the outdoors. It just relaxes me.  It’s hard to explain. One thing that helps is I’m not making a living off it. I have a job. For those who make a living off it, a year like this year will hurt them.”

He’s referring to all the rain. Matt guesses they’ve lost 30 to 35 percent of their crop for both corn and beans because of the wet weather. He says it’s not so much the water itself, but the diseases and bacteria the water brings.

While many would think accounting and farming sound like two completely opposing lines of work, Matt says it’s a perfect fit for him. He says an accounting class in high school helped him to decide to pursue a career in the field.  A graduate of Ohio Northern University, Matt says he’s found that his accounting knowledge has also been helpful for his friends and fellow farmers making a living off the land.

“It’s really nice to be able to talk to people and give them advice and that’s what I like about accounting, talking with people. I’m a relationship guy, I guess.”

Bottom line, Matt likes learning about people’s business situations and helping them find solutions to problems. He remembers a particular situation a couple of years ago.

“A lot of guys had grain they weren’t selling until the next year. It kept building up. They were trying to figure out how to handle the situation and minimize the tax burden.” Upon Matt’s advice, many of them gifted grain to their children, which saved them considerable tax. “If you gift grain to someone who’s not a farmer,” Matt explains, “It can be taxed as capital gains and those tax rates are more favorable.”  

His advice could help smaller family farmers to stay in business across Hancock County. That’s not an easy thing in today’s economy. In fact, Matt sometimes wonders about the fate of his own family farm. He’s hopeful his 2 year old son may one day take it over. It sounds like he, too, may have farming in his blood. Matt says that the toddler has a battery-powered tractor and likes to watch him work in the fields. Who knows, maybe he’s also good with numbers, just like his dad.

If you were caught off guard by a smaller tax refund this year… we’re here to help make sure that doesn’t happen again next year.

Gilmore Jasion Mahler CPA Charlie Heid appears monthly on WTOL-TV in Toledo, tackling various tax and money issues… and in his March, 2019 appearance he spelled out what you need to do, and it’s really quite simple. He says you need to update your W-4. You remember that form, right? The one we all fill out when we start a job… then totally forget about it?  

We fill out a W-4 so that our employers withhold the right amount of federal income tax. Ask for a copy of your W-4 at work to confirm your current withholding.

If you saw a decrease in your tax refund this year, Charlie says you likely need to decrease your allowances, in other words, have more tax taken out of your pay so you have a bigger refund come April 15^th of 2020.

A quick reminder that the reason that we saw this change this year with smaller refunds was due to tax reform. Less money was taken out of your check in 2018, so you may recall that you got that bump in your paycheck, but now you’re seeing that translate to a smaller refund.

Here are some examples of how you can adjust your W-4 moving forward.

Example 1: Single person, no children whose refund was smaller than they’d like.

That single person would typically enter one (1) allowance (line A on the W-4 worksheet above) for him or herself and one allowance (line D) for a total of two allowances. Now, if that person wants a bigger refund, Charlie suggests they try claiming only one allowance and see what that does to their paycheck… or they could claim zero. He says the important thing to remember is the less allowances that you have on your W-4, the more money that’s withheld from your check and the more you’ll get back come April 15.

Example 2: Married man with one child, filing jointly and making $100,000 a year.

That man would typically enter one (1) on line A (of the W-4 worksheet) for himself. He would enter a one (1) on line B because he is married filing jointly. He would typically enter a four (4) on line E for that one child. That adds up to a total of six (6) allowances. But, if he wants a bigger refund than he got this year, Charlie says he would suggest reducing the number of allowances from 6 to perhaps 3 and see how that impacts his paycheck. 

Key points:

Want a bigger refund?

• Need more money taken out of your check
• Need to decrease number of allowances on W-4
• That will result in more tax withheld from your check (and a bigger refund)

 The IRS has a withholding calculator to help you do a “paycheck checkup” and fill out your W-4.    

Charlie recommends that everyone revisit their W-4 at least once a year. He says you may also need to adjust your W-4 if you have a big life change such as:

• Your spouse stops working
• You get a divorce
• You have a new baby

Any time you’d like to update your W-4, he says just request a copy from your employer, update it, and resubmit to your employer. You can find the W-4 here on the IRS website.

Charlie has one parting thought about adjusting your allowances to have a bigger refund: really, he says, your goal is to come as close to a wash as possible… where you don’t owe, and the government doesn’t owe you. That being said, many people don’t view it that way and want that big refund, so in that case, he says, don’t be afraid to tinker with your allowances. You can change your W-4 form as often as you want until you’re satisfied with the amount of money coming out of your check.

CPA Charlie Heid is a partner specializing in tax services. He has been with Gilmore Jasion Mahler for 17 years and appears monthly on WTOL 11 Your Day to cover tax and money topics.

Established in 1996, Gilmore Jasion Mahler, LTD (GJM) is the largest public accounting firm in Northwest Ohio, with offices in Maumee and Findlay. Locally owned, GJM offers cloud-based accounting and provides comprehensive services including assurance, business advisory, tax, risk advisory, healthcare management and outsourced accounting. The Firm’s professionals specialize in industries including construction & real estate, healthcare, manufacturing & distribution and utilities.

It’s now day 28 of the longest shutdown of our federal government in history… and tax filing season is about to begin. Gilmore Jasion Mahler’s Charlie Heid tackled the topic in his monthly appearance on WTOL-TV.

Charlie says the good news is that all indications are right now that we won’t see a delay in getting our tax returns. The IRS says it has called back to work from furlough about 46 thousand workers, over half of its workforce, to process our tax returns. But it’s not exactly business as usual… Charlie says there are a few things we need to know.

#1: As of right now, the IRS helpline isn’t there as a backup to answer your questions. The government shutdown has closed that phone support service. If you call the IRS 1-800 helpline you’ll just get a recording saying it isn’t available. The IRS just announced earlier this week that it plans to open the call center back up with limited personnel in the coming days…but says if you do call, you need to expect long wait times. Also, IRS walk-in taxpayer assistance centers are closed.

#2: This is the first year we’re filing our tax returns under an overhauled tax code… the biggest changes we’ve dealt with in decades. There’s a new 1040 form, with schedules attached. People are going to have a lot of questions… and they just need to be prepared for the fact that, if the government shutdown continues, they may not be able to reach the IRS for help.

Charlie recommends that people file earlier rather than later. That way if you get stuck on something, you have time to do some research and figure it out before the April 15 deadline.

Something else to keep in mind: the dollar amount of your tax refund could look different this year because of the new law. Tax reform has drastically changed exemptions, deductions, etc. People who are used to getting a certain amount back every year could have a rude awakening. For example, someone who typically gets a refund of $3,000 could wind up with a much smaller refund… or could even owe money. That’s why the IRS has been encouraging people all year to get with their employers to double check that the right amount of tax is being taken out of their paychecks. Charlie says those who haven’t done could have an unwelcome surprise.

Here’s a quick recap of some of the biggest changes in the tax law for the 2018 tax filing year:   

• Bigger standard deduction
• Capped deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000
• Increased child tax credit

Tax filing season starts January 28… that’s a week from Monday. That means the IRS will be accepting and processing tax returns starting January 28^th. Charlie says you should file electronically with direct deposit if possible. The IRS says that will speed up the process… and if you are getting a refund, you’ll see it sooner.    

CPA Charlie Heid is a partner specializing in tax services, who joined Gilmore Jasion Mahler in 2002. He serves clients across many industries, with a focus on manufacturing & distribution. Charlie appears monthly on WTOL-TV to discuss tax and money issues.

Established in 1996, Gilmore Jasion Mahler, LTD (GJM) is the largest public accounting firm in Northwest Ohio, with offices in Maumee and Findlay. Locally owned, GJM offers cloud-based accounting and provides comprehensive services including assurance, business advisory, tax, risk advisory, healthcare management and outsourced accounting. The Firm’s professionals specialize in industries including construction & real estate, healthcare, manufacturing & distribution and utilities.