Personal Tax Services Located in Wayne PA

Each year you are required to complete your family or personal tax return and file it with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  However, each year, tax laws change, your situation changes and the complexity seems to grow. You need someone that can stay on top of increasingly complex tax laws and can maximize all the credits and deductions to help you save as much of your hard earned money as possible.  You need a trusted partner to help with all your personal tax services in the Wayne PA area.

At MGS LLP, we have the experience to know that your tax needs are unique, so we know our approach to helping you plan needs to be unique as well.  We tailor our clients tax preparation and planning to their specific goals to create specialized personal tax services aimed at setting expectations around what they may owe, helping them to understand why they owe what they do and, ultimately, creating a plan going forward to help reduce that amount annually.  So, whether you have an immediate financial or tax concern or you are seeking long-term tax solutions, we can apply our strong understanding of the tax code to you or your family and deliver the results you would expect.

Common Tax Preparation Issues We Handle

We commonly see the following tax situations year in and year out, helping to answer key questions and file accurate, trustworthy returns.

Understanding Your W2 and Earnings

Far and away the most common type of tax questions are related to the W2 form.  Taxes that are reported on the W-2 are the most common form or taxes and tend to be straightforward and relatively quick and hassle-free to repair.  Many people opt to use over-the-counter tax software to prepare their taxes when they only have a W-2, however, they may not be realizing potential deductions and credits that may be missed which can lower the amount of taxes you actually have to pay.

Life Events

Getting married and having children are big decisions and exciting life moments, but they also have some fairly large impacts on your tax planning and personal tax preparation services.  They may change your filing status or introduce dependents and other tax credits and deductions that you can use to your advantage.

Buying a Home or Property

Both buying a home and owning it into the future has implications on your tax return and offers deduction and credit opportunities that can be used to offset income taxes.  We assist our clients with not only personal tax preparation related to home expenses, but also in understanding what the purchase of a home may mean to them going forward and how it may impact their tax planning.

Selling a Property

Similar to buying a home, when it is time to sell a property, this transaction is reported on your personal income taxes.  Depending on various situations including your income, whether you purchased another home or what deductions you may have previously taken on the home, the sale of a property can have significant implications for you tax filing.  It is always best to consult a tax professional when you are filing taxes involving the sale of a home.

Rental Properties and Income

We assist our clients with the reporting and management of rental property income, expenses and deductions.  Depreciation and other more complex tax preparation services can arise when you own a rental property.

Investment Income and Earnings

Interest income from a bank or saving accounts, buying and selling stocks, bonds or mutual funds, investing in a 401(k) and other less common investments all must be reported and tracked on your personal income tax return.  At MGS LLP, we have experience in managing all types of investment income and the filings associated with them, from the most common to more complex scenarios like alternative investments and hedge funds. The following situations all need to be considered when preparing your tax return:

Interest Income

Earnings from checking, savings and certificate of deposit accounts are considered income within the year they are accrued

Dividends

Most often paid to shareholders of a stock, dividends in non-taxable accounts are considered taxable income in the year they are distributed

Capital Gains

When you own an investment such as a stock or mutual fund, gains resulting from the sale of the investment may be considered taxable and must be reported and taxes paid on the earnings

Stock Sales

Similar to capital gains, stock sales may result in earned income, but they may also result in losses if they were sold for less than they were purchased.  Our personal tax services will account for these potential losses and use them to offset income taxes due.

Calculating Tax Basis

Some investments may be sheltered from taxes on a year over year basis as they grow, but eventually, when the proceeds are removed from the account, for instance in retirement, earnings will be subject to income tax.  We can help to track those earnings year over year to calculate your cost basis and ensure that you do not overpay when taking a distribution. This commonly occurs in accounts such as IRAs and Roth IRAs.

Short Sales

Less common than some scenarios above, a short sale occurs when real estate is sold and the net proceeds from selling the property will fall short of the debts secured by liens against the property.

401(k)

The most common form of investing for retirement, a 401(k) offers the benefits of saving for retirement using pre-tax earnings,  meaning your current income is reduced and you pay no taxes on these contributions in the present. Taxes would be paid at a future time when the money is distributed from the account.  MGS LLP can help you to understand the impact of saving in a 401(k) and what you may be able to save in taxes by investing through this type of vehicle.

1099s

The 1099 form has various purposes for reporting miscellaneous income, including the reporting of interest and dividend income, but it is also used in today’s rapidly growing self-employment market to track earnings for contract employees that have assisted a company, but were not employees.

K-1s

Common for limited partnerships and other types of self-employment, this form reports earnings and share of ownership for partnerships.

Student Loans

We can assist in preparing FAFSA paperwork and include student loans, scholarships and interest payments on your tax returns.

Other Tax Situations

The above may be the most common forms of tax situations and planning we run into at MGS LLP, there are so many more unique circumstances that can arise, making it too long of a list to include here.  Our experience over the past decades has introduced us to nearly every tax scenario that exists, which is why we are so confident that we truly represent the best in Wayne PA tax services. The last thing we want our clients to feel they need to figure out these scenarios for themselves, so please contact us so we can share our expertise with you and help ensure accurate and timely tax filings for you and your family.

Personal Tax Services Based on Experience

Giving MGS LLP the honor of preparing and filing your taxes, means that you have made the wise decision to work with a trusted, experienced certified public accounting firm with decades of experience.  Our experience will be put to work for you through expert tax planning, accurate personal tax preparation services and timely filing for both Federal and state returns, such as Pennsylvania.

Our goals are simple.  We work for you to help you understand your tax scenarios, maximize your deductions and credits to ensure you get everything you are entitled to take and prepare you with a plan going into the future that will help keep your tax burden as low as possible.  Taxes may be filed annually, but they are so much more than just an annual event. Failing to consider your tax situation in your long term financial, family or business planning can be a mistake that may cost you a lot of money in the future.

With offices in Wayne PA and Radnor PA, we serve the Mainline and Philadelphia areas, covering Montgomery, Chester and Delaware Counties.  You do not need to wait for April, contact us today and let us help you get your tax affairs in order and starting planning so you can save more of your hard earned income.  Contact us for a free consultation or call us at 610-688-6162 so we can get started right away.