2. Other types of unemployment benefits include:
Benefits paid by a state or the District of Columbia from the Federal Unemployment Trust Fund
Railroad unemployment compensation benefits
Disability payments from a government program paid as a substitute for unemployment compensation
Trade readjustment allowances under the Trade Act of 1974
Unemployment assistance under the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act
For complete information on each of the benefits listed, see chapter 12 in IRS Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax, or Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income.
3. You must report benefits paid to you as an unemployed member of a union from regular union dues. However, if you contribute to a special union fund and your payments to the fund are not deductible, you only need to include in your income the unemployment benefits that exceed the amount of your contributions.
4. You can choose to have federal income tax withheld from your unemployment compensation. To make this choice, complete Form W-4V, Voluntary Withholding Request, and give it to the paying office. Tax will be withheld at 10 percent of your payment. If you choose not to have tax withheld, you may have to make estimated tax payments throughout the year.
For more information on unemployment compensation see IRS Publications 17 and 525.  Forms and publications can be downloaded from the IRS Website at www.irs.gov or can be ordered by calling 1-800-829-3676.

Bartering is the trading of one product or service for another. Usually there is no exchange of cash. However, the fair market value of the goods and services exchanged must be reported as income by both parties.

Here are four facts on bartering :

1. Organized barter exchanges

A barter exchange functions primarily as the organizer of a marketplace where members buy and sell products and services among themselves. Whether this activity operates out of a physical office or is internet-based, a barter exchange is generally required to issue Form 1099-B, Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions, annually to their clients or members and to the IRS.

2. Barter income

Barter dollars or trade dollars are identical to real dollars for tax reporting purposes. If you conduct any direct barter – barter for another’s products or services – you must report the fair market value of the products or services you received on your tax return.

3. Tax implications of bartering

Income from bartering is taxable in the year it is performed. Bartering may result in liabilities for income tax, self-employment tax, employment tax or excise tax. Your barter activities may result in ordinary business income, capital gains or capital losses, or you may have a nondeductible personal loss.
4. How to report

The rules for reporting barter transactions may vary depending on which form of bartering takes place. Generally, you report this type of business income on Form 1040, Schedule C Profit or Loss from Business, or other business returns such as Form 1065 for Partnerships, Form 1120 for Corporations or Form 1120-S for Small Business Corporations.

For more information, see the Bartering Tax Center in the Business section at www.irs.gov.

No, it’s  not me in this picture. But .. it is a photo of a woman on Skype or in Video Chat, connecting with the person who called her.  And it could be YOU!

It’s easy to meet face to face, even when you can’t physically be there.

You get to stay in the comfort of your home,  while  I  do the number crunching from my office, and together we can crank out your return in no time.  You can come to my office for signing or we can meet at an agreed upon location and sign the return.

It’s amazing what we can do with the power of the Internet, video chat, and more.   Or, if you are more conservative, we can do it all by phone.

It has these features: