First State CPAs and Associates

11 hours ago

𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝘅𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗳 𝗜 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁?

If you give your adult child money toward a down payment, they won't have to treat that gift as taxable income.

They don't report the money on their 1040, and they won't owe standard income tax or capital gains tax on those funds.

Gift tax rules apply to you, the person giving the money. And for 2026, you can give your child up to $19,000 without having to report the transfer to the IRS or use any of your lifetime exemption.

If you're married, you and your spouse can combine your individual annual exclusions to give one child up to $38,000.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺? ... See MoreSee Less

First State CPAs and Associates

1 day ago

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗜 𝗱𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱?

No, not every dollar you spend before opening your business gets treated the same way, because the timing of those expenses matters.

Money you spend before your business officially opens can count as startup costs. Think about expenses like:
• Market research
• Advertising your grand opening
• Travel to secure suppliers
• Employee training before day one
• Legal or professional fees related to starting the business

You can write off up to $5,000 of qualifying startup costs in your first active tax year. If your startup costs exceed $50,000, your immediate write-off loses $1 in value for every extra $1 you spend and drops to zero if you pass $55,000.

And any remaining costs over the initial deduction limit have to be spread out over 15 years.

𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘱 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵? ... See MoreSee Less

First State CPAs and Associates

2 days ago

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽?

Make sure you have electronic copies of your...
• 3 to 7 years of tax returns
• Recent bank and investment statements
• Insurance summary pages (auto, home, health, life)
• Property deeds, car titles, and leases
• Basic business records (LLC setup files and contracts)

Tracking down lost copies can easily take 8 to 15 hours of phone calls and waiting on hold... which is the last thing you need during an emergency.

September goal: Spend 30 minutes this week downloading or scanning these files, and save them in one secure spot. Make sure you can access them even if your phone or laptop dies. ... See MoreSee Less