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Welcome to the Law Offices of Stephen Moskowitz, LLP. Our professionals have over three decades of experience representing clients (individuals, small businesses, corporations, municipalities, multi-million dollar businesses, trusts, estates, and other entities and organizations) with their tax matters. We are committed to obtaining results for our clients with skilled, calculated legal representation and providing personal, accessible service to meet the professional and personal needs of our clients.
Our law firm, located in beautiful San Francisco, CA, provides civil tax, criminal tax, and related matters representation locally, as well as nationally and internationally. Our tax practice covers the entire spectrum of individual and business needs. We pride ourselves wit...
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Just in time for the holidays, Congress passed, and President Obama approved, a short-term extension of the Temporary Payroll Tax Continuation Act of 2011. The deal ensures that the social security withholding tax on employees stays at the current rate for the next few months.
Instead of the payroll tax reverting back to the rate of 6.2 percent, the law keeps the rate at 4.2 percent until the extension ends in March, 2012. A jump in the payroll tax rate to 6.2 percent would have equated to an average tax increase of $1,000 per year for 160 million Americans. To put it in simpler terms, the typical worker’s salary in this country would have been reduced by approximately $40 per pay period without the law.
But not all wage-earners benefit from the temporary extension. The deal includes ...
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San Francisco tax attorney Steve Moskowitz said this year's program was structured so that participants had to admit to intentionally evading taxes.
"I found that horribly offensive," Moskowitz said. "A lot of people inadvertently violated a law they hadn’t even heard of."
Moskowitz said some immigrants don't know they have to pay taxes on foreign income and would like to come clean when they find out. But admitting tax avoidance in the amnesty program, he said, could potentially get them in trouble later.
Moskowitz also argued that the punishment for those who didn't participate – tax audits for up to 12 years instead of eight – is unconstitutional.
Cornez, the Franchise Tax Board's tax counsel, said the $50 million in additional...
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Small business owners are always looking for a way to save money; especially in this economy. Many small business owners are not aware of the tax incentives that certain retirement plans offer. This post will outline some of the cost-saving ways that can make a real difference to your bottom line that can also provide added security for you and your employees upon retirement.
Simplified Employee Pension (SEP)
A SEP is an employer-established IRA plan that can be established by a one person business or by a business owner with multiple employees. A small business owner who establishes a SEP may contribute up to 25% of his or her compensation but not more than $49,000 (for tax year 2011). The maximum amount of compensation that can be considered unde...
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Having a sound retirement strategy is an important component of good tax planning. There are many different types of retirement plans that can provide you or your employees with substantial annual tax benefits. This blog post outlines the various types of retirement plans and touches upon some of the tax benefits associated with each of them.
Defined Benefit Plan
Under the traditional defined benefit or pension plan, the employer pays the employee a specific amount of compensation each month after the employee retires. The amount of compensation received by the employee after retirement is usually based upon a combination of the number of years worked and the average of the highest three consecutive years of the employee’s salary.
Some defined benefit plans, such as...
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San Francisco CA – October 26, 2011 – The United States (“U.S.”) and Korean Governments have entered into SCIP to combat tax evasion in the partnering countries. The agreement between the U.S. and South Korea will allow the IRS to obtain records from South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS) to verify and compare information reported by South Korean Americans to both agencies. The NTS is focused on monitoring illegal schemes by South Korean businesses and individuals that move funds abroad, avoid taxes offshore and participate in money laundering schemes.
The IRS is interested in the actions of U.S. taxpayers centered in South Korea, particularly South Korean investors, who invest money illegally through affiliates in other countries. SCIP mandates that Foreign Bank Account Holders...