An experienced business attorney can help you keep more of your income, protect your assets, and prepare for personal and business growth. At France Law Firm, our tax attorneys and business law attorneys help Florida businesses and families create proactive strategies that deliver lasting financial benefits.

What Early Tax Planning Really Means for Tallahassee Businesses and Families

Everyone knows to gather receipts in February and March and hire a tax accountant in the spring. It’s something you should do year-round so you understand how legal, financial and personal decisions will affect your tax position before it’s too late to make changes. This also means retaining an experienced tax attorney who can advise you on the best tax strategy for your situation.

Tax preparation focuses on compliance, including filing accurate tax returns and meeting deadlines, while early tax planning focuses on strategy. It anticipates how you should legally reduce your tax burden to position yourself for stability and growth.

Working with a business tax attorney ensures your plan integrates with your overall legal structure. It can mean restructuring your entity, deferring income, optimizing asset depreciation or aligning business budgeting with long-term financial goals. When you plan your taxes early, you have time to change factors that could decrease your tax bill.

How Early Tax Planning Benefits Tallahassee Businesses

Business owners face unique tax challenges, including managing operating expenses and meeting federal and state obligations. The earlier you plan, the more flexibility you have in reducing taxable income and maximizing deductions.

Many tax-saving strategies have a deadline of December 31, including purchasing new equipment, pre-paying certain expenses, and contributing to employee retirement plans. A business tax attorney can help you identify industry-specific deductions and credits.

Additional strategies may include:

• Proactive planning to avoid penalties and cash flow issues
• Ensuring you have the correct entity structure, e.g., corporation, LLC, non-profit, S-Corp, as they are taxed differently
• Strategically planning for employee compensation, e.g, coordinating financial and legal strategies for compensation packages

How Early Tax Planning Protects Families

Tax planning isn’t only for business owners. It’s also crucial for families. Without careful planning, your interconnected business and personal finances can create unexpected tax burdens. An experienced business tax attorney can help:

• Coordinate personal and business income
• Reduce estate and inheritance taxes
• Optimize retirement and education savings
• Protect family assets through legal structuring

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Even well-intentioned business owners and families can make preventable errors that could cost thousands of dollars every year. Some of the most costly mistakes include:

• Waiting until filing season, as most savings opportunities have expired
• Ignoring life changes such as marriage, divorce, new children, children going out on their own, real estate purchases, and adding business partners
• Failing to seek professional help, as do-it-yourself tax software often does not identify complex savings related to business ownership, estates, and trust considerations

The best time to start tax planning is before the year’s last quarter, though working with an experienced tax attorney year-round allows you enough time to make strategic investments or change your tax structure and capitalize on credits.

We work with accountants and financial advisors, and we use our attorney’s estate planning experience to deliver the best strategies to reduce your tax liability. Whether you operate a family-run company or a growing enterprise, we can help you navigate Florida’s complex tax landscape.

Don’t Wait Until Tax Season—Secure Your Business and Family’s Financial Future Today!

Instead of letting another tax season catch you by surprise, contact France Law Firm at 850-224-1040 or by filling out our online contact form to implement a proactive tax plan that protects your business and your family’s financial future.

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Taxes for 2023 and 2024

You may not think the upcoming changes for 2024 are important right now since you will be filing for 2023. However, those changes may affect your long-term tax plans, whether for your estate or your business. France Law Firm has an estate planning attorney who is also a business tax attorney who can help ensure your estate plan, business plan, and tax plan all work together to benefit you now.

Taxes for 2024 apply to the tax returns you file in 2025, while taxes for 2023 apply to the tax returns you file in 2024 (current year).

Per-Barrel Oil Tax

The Inflation Reduction Act reinstated the Hazardous Substance Superfund, which adds yet another tax to each barrel of oil. This tax affects anyone who itemizes and claims fuel for their businesses, as the oil companies are going to pass that tax onto businesses and individuals. While the tax is new in 2023, it is retroactive to Dec. 31, 2016.

Standard Deduction

The standard deduction is changing for 2024. In 2023, it is $27,700 for a couple married filing jointly. For 2024 (taxes filed in 2025), you will have an increase of $1,500 for a standard deduction of $29,200. Rates for other filing statuses are:

• Single People and Those Married Filing Separately: $13,850 for 2023 and $14,600 for 2024
• Heads of Households: $20,800 for 2023 and $21,900 for 2024

Marginal Rates

The tax brackets are remaining the same as the 2023 tax brackets. For 2023 and 2024, the top rate is 37 percent for individuals making over $609,350 and for married couples filing jointly making over $731,200. The additional brackets are as follows:

• 35 percent for individuals making over $243,725 and married couples filing jointly making $487,450
• 32 percent for individuals making over $191,950 and married couples filing jointly making over 383,900
• 24 percent for individuals making over $100,525 and married couples filing jointly making over $201,050
• 22 percent for individuals making over $47,150 and married couples filing jointly making over 94,300
• 12 percent for individuals making over $11,600 and married couples filing joint making over $23,200
• 10 percent for individuals making $11,600 or less or married couples filing jointly making $23,200 or less

Alternative Minimum Tax

The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) limits deductions. If an individual or married couple itemizing has too many deductions, the AMT kicks in, so you can’t lower your tax responsibility too much. In 2023, the AMT exemption is $81,300 and starts to phase out at $578,150 for individuals and 126,500, phasing out at $1,156,300 for couples filing jointly.

For 2024, the AMT kicks in at $85,700 for individuals and starts to phase out at $1,156,300.

Earned Income Tax Credit

Qualifying taxpayers who have at least three qualifying children can receive an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) of $7,830 in 2024 and $7,430 in 2023.

Estate and Gift Taxes

The basic exclusion for estate taxes (commonly known as the Federal Death Tax) for those who died in 2023 is $12,920,00, and in 2024, $13,610,000.

The annual gift tax exclusion is $17,000 for 2023 and $18,000 for 2024.

Contact France Law Firm

These are just a few of the taxes that will affect the average person or couple filing jointly. Several other changes include the limitation for the qualified transportation fringe benefit, employee salary deductions for contributions to health flexible spending accounts, self-only coverage in Medicare Savings Accounts, foreign earned income, and the maximum credit allowed for adoptions.

When it’s time to start your taxes for 2023 and if you need to make changes to your estate plan based on tax changes for this year and next year, contact a tax attorney and estate planning attorney at France Law Firm for a consultation.

The post Understanding the New Tax Laws: What You Need to Know for the Upcoming Year appeared first on France Law Firm.

What are Estimated Taxes

Estimated tax is a form of paying taxes on income that is not withheld from your paycheck. If you receive any income through interest, dividends, alimony, self-employment income, capital gains, or rent, you may be subject to paying estimated taxes. These taxes are generally used to pay other, specific taxes like income tax, self-employment tax, and alternative minimum tax. If you don’t pay the amount of estimated tax you’re supposed to, it will show in your tax refund. Paying too low will force you to give the IRS some money after your tax return while if you pay too much, it will be added to your tax refund. If you’re late on your estimated tax payments, a penalty may be applied.

Who Has to Pay Estimated Taxes?

Estimated taxes are paid by those that don’t have taxes withheld from their paycheck or that have less taxes withheld from their paycheck than they owe. Sole proprietors, partners, and S corporation shareholders are usually required to pay estimated taxes if they owe $1,000 or more when they file their tax return. Corporations also may have to pay estimated taxes if they expect that they may owe $500 or more when they file their tax returns. The general rule of whether or not you have to pay estimated taxes is if your tax liability is $1,000 or more for the previous year and the taxes owed are not taken out of your subsequent paychecks, you’ll have to make estimated tax payments the following year.

Who Doesn’t Have to Pay Estimated Taxes?

Those that have regular employment where taxes are withheld from their paycheck have the ability to avoid making estimated tax payments by asking their employer to withhold extra money that will go toward paying those taxes owed. Typically, you know you don’t have to pay any estimated taxes if you had no tax liability for the prior year, were a citizen or resident of the United States for the previous year, and if your prior tax year covered a 12-month period.

When Do You Have to Make Estimated Tax Payments?

The estimated tax year is divided into four separate periods. The first period lasts from January to March, the second period from April to May, the third period from June to August, and the fourth period from September to December. Each period has a due date that arrives during the middle of the following month. If the amount of tax you owe is not paid by the time of the due date, you may be charged a penalty, even if you are due a refund when your tax return is filed. The best way to avoid such penalties is to ensure that your estimated tax is correct.

If, for any reason, the appropriate amount of tax you owe is not withheld from your paycheck, you may owe estimated taxes. In the event that you owe these taxes, there are two options in which you can pay them. One is that you can have additional money taken out of your paycheck to pay off those taxes. The other is that you can pay those taxes directly. Either way, it’s important to make sure that you correctly calculate the taxes as paying less than the appropriate amount by the due date can result in penalties. While this quick guide will give you a starting point if you owe estimated taxes, the professionals at France Law Firm can help you sort your income tax situation including what taxes you have to pay so you don’t hear from the IRS.

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Income Taxes

The main tax that people are most familiar with are income taxes. These are the taxes that are regularly taken out of the monthly paychecks of employees. But did you know that businesses have to pay income taxes too? In fact, all businesses, with the exception of partnerships, must file income tax returns. Partnerships, on the other hand, are required to file information returns. Federal income taxes are considered pay-as-you-go, which means that the company must pay taxes as they earn or receive income throughout the year.

Given that different types of businesses are required to pay federal income taxes differently, it’s important to know what kind of business you have. The most common types of business structures include sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and S-corporation.

Sole Proprietorship

If a business owner owns an unincorporated business by himself or herself, that company can be considered a sole proprietorship. However, it’s important to note that if the company elects to be treated as a limited liability company or as a corporation, they cannot also be a sole proprietor.

Partnership

A partnership is when two or more people form a relationship and join together to form a business. Each of these partners contributes money, property, labor, or skill and is expected to share in both the profits and losses of the business. If the business is officially a partnership, they will be expected to file an annual information return which will inform the government on their income, deductions, gains, losses, and other financial aspects of their business. Partnerships don’t pay income taxes, but instead each partner will include their share of the income or losses of the partnership on their individual tax return.

Corporation

A corporation, sometimes referred to as a C corporation, is made up of shareholders who exchange money, property, or both for the corporation’s capital stock, the stock a company is authorized by the corporate charter to use. To find out how much of their income is taxable, corporations can usually take the same deductions as a sole proprietorship, but they can also take some special deductions. A corporation will typically take the net income or losses from their day-to-day business to pay taxes and distribute any profits to their shareholders.

In certain circumstances, corporations have the ability to be taxed twice, known as double taxed. The corporation is taxed the first time when the money is initially earned. When the dividends are then distributed to the shareholders, they are taxed again. Adding to this is the fact that the corporation will not receive any tax deductions when the dividends are distributed to the shareholders and these shareholders are not allowed to deduct any losses of the corporation.

S Corporation

S corporations are corporations that have decided to pass on their corporate income, losses, deductions, and credits to their shareholders for federal tax purposes. These shareholders then report the flow-through of income and loss on their personal tax returns, meaning that they will be taxed at their individual income tax rate. This process allows the S corporations to avoid the double taxation that can be levied on the C corporations. However, there are some stipulations that must be met in order to be considered a S corporation; it must be a domestic corporation, must have only allowable shareholders, must have no more than 100 shareholders, must have only one class of stock, and must not be an ineligible corporation.

The way that your business is taxed is largely dependent on the type of business that you possess. Understanding how your business structure is classified will help you know what taxes you are liable for and what forms you must submit. To better understand your business’ income tax situation, come to France Law Firm for help.

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