The Firm of Gardner & Billing, CPAs PLLC

 IRS-2018-146, June 29, 2018 WASHINGTON – As part of a larger effort to help taxpayers, the Internal Revenue Service plans to streamline the Form 1040 into a shorter, simpler form for the 2019 tax season. The new 1040 – about half the size of the current version -- would replace the current Form 1040 as well as the Form 1040A and the Form 1040EZ.  The IRS circulated a copy of the new form and will work with the tax community to finalize the streamlined Form 1040 over the summer. This new approach will simplify the 1040 so that all 150 million taxpayers can use the same form. The new form consolidates the three versions of the 1040 into one simple form. At the same time, the IRS will still obtain the information from each taxpayer needed to determine their tax liability or refund.  The new Form 1040 uses a “building block” approach, in which the tax return is reduced to a simple form. That form can be supplemented with additional schedules if needed. T...

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has changed the way that your income tax is calculated. The IRS encourages taxpayers to perform a quick “paycheck checkup” by using the Withholding Calculator to check if they have the right amount of withholding for their personal situation.   The Calculator helps you identify your tax withholding to make sure you have the right amount of tax withheld from your paycheck at work.  Mid-year is the perfect time for a checkup because you still have time to make a change that will give you the result you want at tax time. There are several reasons to check your withholding: Checking your withholding can help protect against having too little tax withheld and facing an unexpected tax bill or penalty at tax time next year.  At the same time, with the average refund topping $2,800, you may prefer to have less tax withheld up front and receive more in your paychecks.  If you are an employee, the Withholding C...

Although the wind didn't cooperate for our photo, we're proudly flying the stars and stripes today for Flag Day! Did you know?....  Flag Day is celebrated on June 14th because it commemorates the day in 1777 when the Second Continental Congress signed a resolution that finalized the flag's design.

Although the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act has significantly changed the federal tax code, the Montana Department of Revenue has not announced any major reform.  Many employers have recently requested employees to complete the new 2018 W-4 but if you've made changes in your withholding allowances to reflect federal tax changes, it could have an undesirable impact on your state withholding. The below is information from the MT Dept of Revenue website with advice to employees and employers for handling MT income tax withholding.   We recommend that employees continue to use the number of allowances calculated on their 2017 (or older) Form W-4 for Montana withholding. A newly hired employee should also use the 2017 federal Form W-4 to calculate the number of allowances for Montana. The IRS recently released a new federal Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, for 2018 to reflect the recent federal tax reform provisions. As a result, employees may revise the...