What are your plans for this Sumer? Sailing on the Euphrates? Taking a spa day in Jemdet Nasr? Maybe taking your kids on a road trip to see the Code of Ur-Nammu?
As we all know, the early BCEs are a lovely time to explore, but did you know that five thousand years ago is also when you should have started your tax planning for 2018? Don’t start panicking yet, there’s still plenty of Sumertime left to address some challenges in tax planning.
Here are our best Sumertime tips for 2018 tax planning, straight from Uruk:
- There are some tax advantages from hiring your child (under 18 years of age) to do a legitimate job you need done. Your goal there should be to keep the wages below the standard deduction (remember that’s $12,000 this year, or about 5500 ancient Sumerian shekels) and you don’t have to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on them (because they’re under 18. If they’re under 21, they’re also not subject to federal unemployment taxes.
- A lot of deductions are now limited, including deductions for moving, unreimbursed business expenses, and the big cap on the local taxes (see our post on Super Bunching for more on this)
- Especially important along the ancient routes of the first known civilization is to keep in mind travel rules. If you’re planning on doing some sightseeing around your deliveries of possibly substandard copper, remember to try to take them on at the beginning or end of the trip to make all the travel deductible.
No matter if you’re challenging Gilgamesh or Enkidu to a duel, Sumertime is always a great period to do some last minute tax planning. And if you don’t have five thousand years to prepare for your taxes, you can always come ask us. We can help you plan by the end of this year.
Tags: weirdly funny