Tips to boost business travel deductions: Tax Strategy Scan

Our weekly roundup of tax-related investment strategies and news your clients may be thinking about.

Tips to boost business travel deductions
Clients can claim a tax deduction for business travel expenses even if they tagged along a non-employee in the trip, according to Business Management Daily. They can deduct the airfare, lodging fees, and 50% of the cost of meals as long as they can prove that the trip is related to business. It is also suggested that clients deduct what it would have cost to stay in a single room during their trip, even if it’s more than half the cost of their double.

Clients are allowed to write off all the travel expenses of their trip if they can prove it’s related to business.
A row of passenger aircraft line up ahead of take off from London Heathrow airport in London, U.K., on Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. Europe's busiest hub is stepping up its pitch for a new runway with a much-delayed U.K. government decision on where to locate additional flight capacity for southern England likely to announced in the coming weeks. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

How to handle bitcoin gains on your taxes
Taxpayers are required to declare the gains they made from transactions involving bitcoins, according to this Yahoo Finance article. “For federal tax purposes, virtual currency is treated as property. General tax principles applicable to property transactions apply to transactions using virtual currency,” according to the IRS. “A taxpayer who receives virtual currency as payment for goods or services must, in computing gross income, include the fair market value of the virtual currency, measured in US dollars.”

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If your clients pay the alternative minimum tax, these funds can help lower their tax liability.

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Don't let young clients overlook these tax benefits
Young workers may qualify for tax credits and deductions, and should take advantage of all the tax breaks available to them, according to Morningstar. Reducing modified adjusted gross income using tax deductions could lead to more benefits. Therefore, it is crucial that these clients know the difference between tax credits and tax deductions in order to develop an effective tax-saving strategy based on their circumstances.

7 key benefits to a health savings account
Health savings accounts offer clients various benefits, including tax deduction on contributions, tax-free growth on savings and nontaxable withdrawals if the money is spent on qualified medical expenses, according to this article from Entrepreneur. An HSA is similar to an IRA, as withdrawals for non-medical expenses are taxed as ordinary income, except that the HSA is not subject to mandatory distributions when clients reach 70 1/2.

The states with the highest (and lowest) taxes for retirees
A report from J.P. Morgan has identified Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Nevada, and Wyoming as the most tax-friendly states for retirees, according to this article from Money. Retirees in New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Maine and Vermont pay the heftiest taxes, with a considerable portion of the bill coming from property taxes, the report says.

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Tax strategies Bitcoin HSAs IRAs Retirement planning Morningstar IRS
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