4 1 AVOID SURPRISES On Your 2019 Tax Return According to the IRS, the number of taxpayers who owe at the end of the year has increased 40% in recent years. To make matters worse, if you owe money on your tax return you will also likely be charged penalties and interest for not paying the correct amount throughout the year. The best way to avoid this is to make adjustments to your federal withholdings with your employer or to make estimated tax payments throughout the year. To get started you should determine if you are likely to have a balance due when you file your 2019 tax return next year. WHY DO I OWE? When you are paid by your employer they are required to withhold federal taxes to cover your expected liability. However, these withholdings are not always sufficient to cover your final tax bill due to various factors that can affect your tax liability. Several of these factors include: More than one source of income . If you work more than one job, or if you have a spouse that also works, you have an increased chance of owing on your tax return. This is because each employer only accounts for the wages they are paying you when determining how much taxes to withhold. When you have more than one source of income you could be in a higher tax bracket than your employer expects. Significant increase in income. When you start making more money you run the risk of being phased out of various tax deductions that you may have qualified for in the past. And if you receive a large pay raise in the middle of the year, your withholdings in the first half of the year may no longer be sufficient for that portion of your income when you move into a higher tax bracket. No longer claiming your child. Claiming your child on your tax return can reduce your tax bill by $2,000-3,500 per year. So when you child moves out on their own, or when you cannot claim your child due to divorce, it can take a heavy toll on your tax bill. Major life changes. Getting married, getting divorced, or retiring. These are all major life changes that can have a dramatic impact on your tax return. When you go through one of these changes you should be prepared for significant changes to your tax bill. WHAT TO DO? If any of the above situations apply then you are at increased risk of having to pay when you file your 2019 tax return. To avoid this you can change your withholdings with your employer. If you have more than one job we recommend claiming zero allowances with your second employer. You can also request that an additional specified amount be taken out of each check and put toward your federal tax liability. You can also estimate your final tax bill and make quarterly estimated payments to reduce or eliminate your bill at the end of the year. If you still owe, making quarterly payments can help you avoid paying additional penalties when you file your return. If you would like help determining if you should adjust your withholdings or make estimated payments please give us a call. 3 2 Read more articles Failing to order your affairs to minimize your tax burden could cost you significant money - so don't wait to take action. If you have additional questions or need some planning help, please reach out to us.

See below for a few simple tips that you can apply to align all your financial decisions with your most deeply held values and life goals to help you live the best life possible. A Great Planning Tool: Health Savings Accounts How the Revised Child Tax Credit Will Impact Your 2021 Tax Return Managing Your Healthcare Costs in Retirement Tax Implications of the American Jobs Plan The American Rescue Plan Act Three Reasons to File Your Taxes Early The Tax Implications of Your Side Hustle Year-End Tax Planning The High Risk of Owning Bonds Today Financial Planning Check Up Social Security Tax Deferral Economic Impact Payments From The CARES Act What Expenses Are Deductible In 2019? What You Should Know About The SECURE Act Roth vs. Traditional IRA: Which One Is Right For You? Year-End Tax Planning Strategies Avoid Surprises On Your 2019 Tax Return What Will Happen When Social Security Runs Out? Six Myths About Health Savings Accounts. The Impact of Your Pension On Your Social Security Benefits Five Things That Every IRA Owner Should Know The Impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act What Triggers The IRS? 10 Flags that Could Signal an Audit Tax Consequences of Reinvesting Your Mutual Fund Distributions Year-End Review of Your Retirement Accounts Maximizing Your Deductions in Light of Tax Reform Tax Implications of Selling Your Home How to Save for Your Child's College Education Will vs Trust: Which is Right for You? Avoid Surprises on Your 2018 Tax Return Five Changes to Be Aware of Under the 2018 Tax Reform Year-End Tax Planning Strategies Making the Most of Your Charitable Donations How Could the Proposed Tax Reform Affect You? 8 Security Tips in Light of the Equifax Data Breach Tax Tips for Home Sellers "Why Am I Being Selected for An Audit?" 5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Help Improve Your Retirement Years What Parents Need to Know About Back-to-School Expenses Avoid The Hidden Traps of Retirement Plan Loans

Simplify Your Crypto Tax Filing Expert Help for Crypto Investors Struggling to manage transactions across multiple exchanges and wallets? Finding it hard to consolidate data without clear platform reports? Confused about how trading, staking, mining, and NFTs are taxed? Worried about staying compliant with evolving IRS crypto rules? Missing deductions for mining expenses or operational costs? Having trouble calculating the cost basis for your positions? Expertise Specialists in crypto tax regulations Accurate Reporting Technology combined with experience to recognize taxable income from crypto trades Maximize Your Deductions Our advanced planning strategies will help you minimize your tax liability Get Started Today! Our Process Sign Up: Create your account in two minutes. Upload Your Data: Easily upload all your tax documents to your secure portal. Review and File: We handle the rest to ensure accuracy and compliance. We will start your return as soon as all your tax documents have been uploaded to your secure portal and we have your authorization to begin working on the return. If you trade on a non-traditional platform (ie. platforms other than Coinbase or Robinhood that do not provide tax information), we will need the basis information from your transactions. We will follow up with questions if we believe there is missing information. We will notify you when your tax return is complete and give you the option to review it with one of our tax experts. Pricing: 1.Basic (up to 25 transactions): Starts at $350 2.Plus (up to 100 transactions): Starts at $425 3.Advanced (up to 1,000 transactions): Starts at $650 4.Custom Plan: Contact for a quote Additional schedules from other sources of income or deductions may incur an additional fee. Our Guarantee: If we have all of your required tax documents, we guarantee that your return will be filed within compliance of the IRS regulations. Frequently asked questions 5 Crypto Tax Mistakes to Avoid Filing taxes as a cryptocurrency investor can be complex, and even small mistakes can lead to audits, penalties, or overpayment. Here are five common crypto tax mistakes to avoid: 1. Not Reporting Crypto Transactions Many investors mistakenly believe they only need to report crypto gains if they cash out to fiat currency, but this isn’t true. The IRS requires reporting on all taxable events, including: Trading one cryptocurrency for another. Selling cryptocurrency for fiat currency. Using cryptocurrency to purchase goods or services. Receiving crypto through staking, mining, or airdrops. Tip: Keep detailed records of every transaction, including dates, amounts, and fair market value at the time. 2. Miscalculating Cost Basis Calculating the cost basis—the original value of your crypto assets—is critical for determining your gains or losses. Mistakes often happen when: Tracking purchases across multiple wallets and exchanges. Accounting for fees or transaction costs incorrectly. Tip: Use tools or software that integrate with exchanges to track and calculate your cost basis accurately. 1. Not Reporting Crypto Transactions Many investors mistakenly believe they only need to report crypto gains if they cash out to fiat currency, but this isn’t true. The IRS requires reporting on all taxable events, including: Trading one cryptocurrency for another. Selling cryptocurrency for fiat currency. Using cryptocurrency to purchase goods or services. Receiving crypto through staking, mining, or airdrops. Tip: Keep detailed records of every transaction, including dates, amounts, and fair market value at the time. 2. Miscalculating Cost Basis Calculating the cost basis—the original value of your crypto assets—is critical for determining your gains or losses. Mistakes often happen when: Tracking purchases across multiple wallets and exchanges. Accounting for fees or transaction costs incorrectly. Tip: Use tools or software that integrate with exchanges to track and calculate your cost basis accurately. Get Started Today! © 2025 by Monotelo Inc. info@monotelo.com 800-961-0298

2021 CHILD TAX CREDIT CALCULATOR Use our child tax credit calculator to estimate how the revised credit will impact your 2021 tax return.

At Monotelo, we use our unique knowledge of the job-related expenses of our public-servant clients to reduce what they are paying in taxes. Learn More Getting started with Monotelo Advisors As a public servant, we know that there are unique deductions available to you that most accountants and tax software fail to capture. That is why we start all of our public servant clients with a no-cost, no-obligation review of their last three tax returns. We have found that we can typically recover $800-$1,500 per year. To get started with your tax review you can upload your 2015, 2016, and 2017 tax returns using the link below. Upload Your 2015-2017 Tax Returns

When planning your vacation be sure to familiarize yourself with the business travel rules to see if you can qualify some of your costs as business expenses. HOW TO DEDUCT YOUR VACATION TRAVEL AS A BUSINESS EXPENSE Taking a vacation can be expensive, so naturally the idea of deducting your vacation expenses on your tax return is an appealing idea. However, before you get carried away planning a lavish vacation with the hopes of writing off the entire cost, make sure to familiarize yourself with the requirements to qualify your expenses as business travel. To qualify for a tax deduction the trip needs to serve a legitimate business purpose. Handing out business cards on the beach does not count. There are 5 criteria your trip must meet to be a qualified business expense: Profit motive. The trip must serve a legitimate profit motive. This means that you can reasonably expect the trip to create profit either now or at some point in the future. Stay overnight . You can only deduct meal and lodging expenses when you are away from home overnight. “Rational Businessperson” test. Your trip will only qualify as a business expense if the business motive is strong enough that a rational businessperson would make the trip if business was the only motive. Primary purpose test. You can only deduct your travel expenses when your trip is primarily for business. This is determined by calculating the number of business days vs personal days of the trip. This may sound like a deal breaker, but it is easier to meet this requirement than you think. Maintain good records. If you do not properly document the business purpose of your trip, your travel expenses, or your actual business activities on the trip you will risk losing your entire deduction. Your trip expenses can be broken down into two general categories with different requirements to be deductible: Transportation Expenses Transportation costs include airfare, train tickets, or the cost of a rental car to get to your destination. These expenses are all-or-nothing, if the majority of your trip days are business days you can deduct all of your transportation costs. If the majority of your trip days are personal you cannot deduct any of these costs. Life Expenses Life expenses include your daily meals and lodging. Unlike transportation expenses you do not need to meet the majority of business days threshold to take life expenses. Instead you simply take the life expenses for each business day of the trip. What Counts as a Business Day? It may be easier than you think to qualify most of your trip as business days. Each day of the trip only needs to meet one of these criteria to qualify as a business day: Work more than four hours. You have a workday when you spend more than half of normal work hours pursuing business. Since a normal workday is eight hours you only need to work for more than four. Presence-required day. If you are required to be at a destination on a specific day for a legitimate business purpose. For example, if you have a meeting with a client in another city on Tuesday, then Tuesday qualifies as a business day even if that is your only business activity for that day. Travel day. Days you spend traveling to or from your business destination count as business days as long as you are traveling in a reasonably direct route. Weekends and holidays. If a weekend or holiday falls in between two business days you can count those days as business days as long as it would not be practical to return home in between the two business days. If you live in California and have meetings in New York on Friday and Monday, it would not be practical to return to California for the weekend. Therefore, all four days count as business days. Saved-money-on-travel days. If you arrive at a destination a day early or leave a day late in order to save on your travel expenses you can count the extra day as a business expense as it served a legitimate business purpose of reducing your travel costs. Summary The rules governing business travel allow for some freedom to deduct vacation time as business expenses, but do not provide a blank check to write off an entire vacation simply because you spent a few minutes discussing business. You need to find the right balance between work and relaxation, properly document your work activities, and maintain records of all your expenses. Are you overpaying on your taxes? Schedule a free review of your last 3 years of tax returns!

SMALL BUSINESS TIPS PANDEMIC PROVISION FOR TAX-FREE PAYMENTS TO YOUR EMPLOYEES During a federally declared disaster, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the tax code allows you to make payments to your employees that are deductible by you, the employer, but not taxable to your employees. If your business is an S-Corporation then you qualify as an employee of the business eligible for these tax-free payments . This provision provides a great limited-time opportunity to pull money out of your business tax-free! These tax-free payments are a provision of Section 139 of the Internal Revenue Code which was passed following the September 11th terrorist attacks. How Does it Work? Normally, payments of cash to your employees are considered taxable income to them by the IRS unless it is to reimburse them for qualified business expenses. Under this provision for disaster relief payments you can reimburse your employees for personal expenses that are incurred because of the disaster as long as they are reasonable and necessary. For the COVID-19 pandemic this can include: Out-of-pocket medical costs not covered by health insurance Expenses for working from home such as a computer, office equipment, supplies & utilities Funeral costs for an employee or an employee’s family member Childcare costs so that your employees can continue to work while children are home from school These are the most common costs that could be reimbursed, but others may qualify for the same tax-free reimbursement if they are reasonable and incurred because of the pandemic. What Does not Qualify? You cannot use this provision as a substitute for your employee’s wages to provide them with tax-free income. In other words, do not reduce an employee’s wages by $1,000 and then reimburse them for a $1,000 medical expense. You can also not reimburse employees for lost wages, or as a form of unemployment compensation. What Should You Do? To take advantage of these tax-free disaster relief payments to your employees we recommend that you put together a written plan for payments that identifies: Starting and ending dates of the program A listing of the expenses you will pay or reimburse The maximum payment per employee A procedure for your employees to request reimbursement We would advise using a form similar to an employee expense report for your employees to request their disaster relief payments. To make things a bit easier, the IRS does not require that your employees provide documentation to support the expenses claimed as long as the amounts are reasonable. Summary With COVID-19 declared a federal disaster, you can take advantage of the disaster relief payment provision of the Internal Revenue Code to provide tax-free payments to your employees to cover their personal expenses that were incurred because of the pandemic. If your business is structured as an S-Corporation you as the owner are considered an employee and can reimburse your personal expenses with tax-free payments from the business. If you would like help determining what expenses are eligible for disaster relief payments or would like guidance on implementing this program for your employees please reach out to us.

WHITE PAPER INTRODUCTION WIN ONE, LOSE ONE, WIN ONE... The W-L-W case was a fun case for our team. There was complexity due to the types of income this family was generating and the stakes were high because they were in the 39.6% tax bracket in the prior tax year. They were also paying AMT (the alternative minimum tax). This can be a very tough tax to deal with because it can wipe out our ability to take certain itemized deductions. Both the husband and wife worked. The wife was a high-producing business owner and the husband worked in corporate America. We projected their tax liability to be in the $110,000 range when we started the case, and both the husband and the wife made it clear that they were tired of paying too much in taxes. They felt like their current advisory team was doing little to help them accomplish their goals. THE CHALLENGE With more than half of the income in this case coming from W-2 income, we believed we could still make a difference for this family. This, however, was one of the first cases where the majority of the income was not coming from the small business owner, but coming from a corporate employee. THE SOLUTION We had three goals heading into this case: Lower their taxable income by $15,000 Shift the sources of the income of the business owner Reduce or eliminate the AMT Penalty In the end, we could not get to our first goal and we did not fully eliminate the AMT penalty. However, we were able to lower their taxable income by $12,500. We were surprised at the smaller impact we had on their taxable income, but we were even more surprised when we discovered that we lowered their overall federal tax liability by $14,000 a year. We were not able to fully eliminate the AMT penalty for this family, but we were able to reduce it with two strategies: We reduced their adjusted gross income by structuring the compensation differently for the business owner and this lowered the AMT penalty We suggested shifting one asset from their personal balance sheet to an LLC. This reduced the portion of the itemized deductions that they missed as a result of the alternative minimum tax. The $14,000 in annual savings that we were able to generate for this family was outside the norm of what we had done in the past, but the additional complexity of their situation gave us more opportunities to be creative! Save as PDF More White Papers JSZ: Junior Sam Zell CWS: Could-A-Would-A-Should-A SOO: Starting Over, And Over

TO BE AWARE OF UNDER THE 2018 TAX REFORM At the end of last year President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law, signaling the largest tax reform in over three decades. We have received a lot of questions recently on how this law will affect our clients. With the tax season now behind us it is time to address how these changes will impact you in 2018. There are many aspects to this law and there is no "one size fits all" explanation for how it will impact our clients. Some of our clients will win and some of them will lose under the new law. With that in mind we have outlined the five changes that we believe are most relevant to you. Personal exemptions historically represented a $4,000 reduction in taxable income for each dependent listed on the tax return. Under the new law these exemptions have been eliminated. However, to help mitigate the loss of these exemptions, the law also made changes to the child tax credit and has added a new credit for non-child dependents. Starting in 2018 the Child Tax Credit has been doubled to $2,000 per child, $1,400 of which is refundable. The phaseout threshold for the Child Tax Credit has also been drastically increased to $200,000 for single filers and $400,000 for joint filers. This means that most taxpayers who were previously prevented from claiming the full Child Tax Credit will now be able to claim the entire credit. Additionally, the law has introduced a new $500 credit for any dependents who are over the age of 17, allowing parents to continue to receive a tax benefit for children in college or other adults residing in their home. SUMMARY There are many moving parts in the new tax law, with a lot of them working to balance one another out. Some of our clients will see a decrease in their tax bill while others will see it increase. Overall, we do not expect any of our clients to see drastic changes, good or bad, with the new code. We expect the majority of our clients to see an increase or decrease in their tax bill of less than $1,000. If you would like to know how the tax reform will directly impact you, please call our office. Interested in a free review of your last three tax returns? Schedule a meeting to get started! Tax Brackets The number of brackets remains at seven. And the percentage charged at each of these brackets has been reduced, with the notable exception of the lowest bracket of 10% which remains unchanged. The majority of our clients who were previously in the 15% or 25% tax bracket will now find themselves in the 12% or 22% bracket respectively. You may have already noticed the impact of these new brackets when your employer adjusted your withholdings earlier in the year, increasing your take home pay. UNREIMBURSED EMPLOYEE EXPENSES The change that could have the greatest impact on our public servant clients is the elimination of the deduction for unreimbursed employee expenses. As the law currently stands, employees will no longer be able to deduct their union dues, work uniforms, tools, or any other expenses related to their employment. The only exception to this is the special $250 allowance for teacher's expenses which remains unaffected. There is currently a bill in congress which seeks to reinstate the deduction for unreimbursed expenses. The "Tax Fairness for Workers Act" would not only bring back the itemized deduction for employee expenses but would go a step further and allow for specific deductions to be taken above-the-line, meaning they would not be subject to many of the limitations that currently restrict their use. It remains to be seen how far this bill will go but we strongly recommend that you keep track of your job expenses until a decision is reached. If the bill passes, this will cause job related expenses to have a greater impact on your tax return. ITEMIZED DEDUCTIONS AND THE STANDARD DEDUCTION One of the most promoted aspects of the new tax law is the nearly doubling of the standard deduction to $12,000 for single, $18,000 for head of household, and $24,000 for joint filers. While the standard deduction amounts are receiving significant increases, many of the allowed itemized deductions are either being handicapped or removed entirely: The deductions for state and local income taxes as well as property taxes are capped at a combined total of $10,000. This means that homeowners in high income-tax states are likely to lose a portion of this former deduction. The deduction for home mortgage interest remains but is limited to mortgages that do not exceed $750,00, down from the previous threshold of $1,000,000. All miscellaneous itemized deductions (including tax preparation fees, casualty losses and all unreimbursed employee expenses) have been eliminated entirely. The increased standard deduction amounts combined with the additional restrictions on itemized deductions increases the chances of the standard deduction being more beneficial than itemizing deductions in 2018. 1 ABOVE THE LINE DEDUCTIONS Above-the-line deductions are more beneficial than itemized deductions as they have far fewer restrictions. The new tax law retains many of these deductions including educator expenses, student loan interest, and contributions to Health Savings Accounts. Two deductions that have been changed are expenses for a job-related move, and alimony payments. Starting in 2018 expenses for a job-related move will only be deductible by active members of the military. Starting in 2019 alimony payments will no longer be deductible. However, this will only apply to divorce agreements settled after the start of 2019. This means that alimony payments from divorce agreements that were already in place prior to 2019 will continue to be deductible. FIVE CHANGES 3 PERSONAL EXEMPTIONS AND THE CHILD TAX CREDIT 2 4 5 At Monotelo, we exist to make a difference with meaningful and actionable financial solutions that positively impact our client's lives. If you have questions about what steps you can be taking to prepare for your retirement years, call us at 800-961-0298

With the House and the Senate both passing their own version of tax reform, there is a high chance that next year's tax rates will be lower for most taxpayers. YEAR-END TAX PLANNING STRATEGIES With the House and the Senate both passing their own versions of tax reform, there is a reasonably high probability that the United States will see a dramatic shift in tax policy in 2018. While no one knows what will be included in the final bill, there is an equally high probability that next year's tax rates will be marginally lower for most tax payers. With that thought in mind, we break down our year-end tax planning strategies into three main categories: Acceleration of deductions into 2017 Shifting of income to 2018 Best Practices ACCELERATION OF DEDUCTIONS Accelerating your deductions in 2017 could make sense for two reasons: Tax brackets may be lower in 2018 than in 2017 (hence the deductions could become more valuable in 2017 than in 2018) Itemized deductions may get phased out in 2018 Four ways to accelerate your deductions in 2017: If you are not at risk of paying the AMT (the alternative minimum tax), consider paying your 2018 property tax bill in 2017. Consider moving up medical procedures into 2017 that have significant out-of-pocket expenses. If you are planning to make significant contributions to your church or a 501c(3) organization, consider making the gift in 2017 rather than 2018. If you are a small business owner, consider making your 2018 purchases this year. This could include new and used personal property such as equipment, computers, desks, chairs, etc. Just be sure that these items are purchased and put in service by the end of the year. 1 Don't forget to review your portfolio gains and losses for tax-harvesting opportunities. SHIFTING INCOME TO 2018 IF YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO MOVE INCOME TO 2018, THIS COULD BE A GOOD YEAR TO DO IT! If you are self-employed, one simple way to do this is to wait to bill your customers until after January 1st. Small business owners on a cash-basis can also prepay and deduct qualifying expenses up to 12 months in advance. This could include: Lease payments on business vehicles Rent payments on a commercial property lease Insurance premiums If you are not self-employed, you can do the same thing if you have the ability to move a year-end bonus into January. 401K contributions - if you do not max out your 401K each year, consider making both 2017 and 2018 retirement contributions in 2017. While this may create a challenging cash-flow situation, it may be worth the effort as the deferral could become more valuable in 2017. Distributions from retirement plans - 2017 could be the year to take the minimum required distribution from your IRA. Consider waiting to 2018 to take additional distributions. Roth conversion: 2017 could end up being a bad year to do Roth conversions. Consider re-characterizing your Roth conversion if the underlying assets performed poorly or wait until 2018 to do the conversion. Save as PDF Read more articles Share BEST PRACTICES Make sure you are contributing to your company 401k if your employer matches your contribution If you are not self-employed, make sure you are using the right plans for additional savings, whether an IRA, a Roth IRA, a non-deductible, or some other deferral option, such as annuities, cash-value life insurance and tax-efficient investments If you are self-employed, make sure you are maximizing your retirement savings opportunities using the optimal plan design; and don't overlook the opportunities to defer up to $100,000 in a Defined Benefit/401(k) combo Be methodical about gifting, and find tax-efficient methods of helping family members. This can include: Charitable gifting: Outright gifts to charities Gifts to family: Annual exclusion usage, outright gifts, gifts to a trust for the benefit of a family member. Educational savings: Tax-efficient vehicles include 529 plans Coverdell savings accounts and education IRAs. 3 2 There is little risk to implementing these tax maneuvers, and there is additional upside to you, the tax payer if there are changes to the tax code. Failing to tax plan in 2017 could cost you significant money - so don't wait to set your plan in motion! If you have additional questions or need some planning help, please reach out to us at 800-961-0298