Whether your Maine company has one vehicle on the road or dozens of vehicles, smart management can save you money. Familiarity with tax laws, simple maintenance steps and high-tech solutions can reduce the costs of operating your fleet and keep it safer. Start With Taxes Spending time with a financial professional is one of the best  Continue Reading »

A business trip is often meant to gain new customers and clients, or solidify relationships with current ones. Or perhaps it’s a time for sales calls and “meets and greets” with suppliers. In any event, the goal of business travel is generally to make money, not to squander it away on needless expenses. While it might be  Continue Reading »

The Social Security system has been questioned by people for years. In June, the Social Security Board of Trustees released its annual report on the long-term financial status of the Social Security Trust Funds. It projects that the combined asset reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Funds will become  Continue Reading »

One of the best times to pause and review your financial planning strategy is Fall. A lot can happen in a year. You may need to revise your long-term financial plans if your personal life, market conditions or tax laws have changed. Here are some retirement and estate planning considerations that may be worthwhile. Roth  Continue Reading »

Vacation properties in Maine are subject to different federal income tax rules depending on how much personal and rental use they have during the year. Now is a good time to plan how to use your Maine vacation property for the rest of this year with tax savings in mind. Tax Rules for Maine Vacation Home  Continue Reading »

ABCs of Education-Related Tax Breaks It’s back-to-school time in Maine and across the country. Whether or not the school buses are already disrupting your commute to work, the start of the school year brings opportunities for tax breaks. There are numerous education-related federal tax deductions and credits to consider on a personal level. But save those  Continue Reading »

Now that both major political party conventions are finally behind us, it’s time to focus on the upcoming national election. Among their many differences, the Republicans and Democrats have widely divergent tax platforms. It’s good to know what tax positions the two parties and their presidential candidates have staked out even though platforms are always relatively  Continue Reading »

Even though few people in Maine enjoy giving money to the IRS, some types of taxes are viewed more unfavorably than others. Here are three worthy candidates contending for the title of most-hated tax. Penalty Tax on Individuals without Health Insurance The Affordable Care Act (ACA) imposes a penalty on individuals who fail to have so-called  Continue Reading »

Charitable giving is on the rise, and given the natural disasters and human tragedies that have happened in recent months, the momentum is expected to continue. Charitable donations reached an all-time high last year of approximately $373.25 billion, according to Giving USA 2016: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2015. This report is published jointly  Continue Reading »

Guardian Energy, LLC v. County of Waseca, 2015 Minn. LEXIS 437 (Aug. 12, 2015) Quantifying external obsolescence (EO) poses a challenge even for experienced appraisers. No wonder the Minnesota tax court recently got into trouble when it rejected the analyses of the experts and created its own methodology. Assessment dispute: The owner of an ethanol  Continue Reading »