Final Year-End Tax Reminders

We would like to share some final tax reminders for 2012 so you can avoid making last-minute errors:

1. Check the balance in your flexible spending account. You must clean it out
   by Dec. 31 if your employer still has not implemented the 2½-month grace period
   that the IRS now permits. Otherwise, any money remaining in your account is forfeited.
   Remember that a $2,500 annual ceiling on health FSA payins takes effect for 2013.
2. If you are making a gift by check, be sure the donee deposits it in 2012
   if you want the money to count as a 2012 gift for gift tax purposes. Alternatively,
   deliver a certified check to the recipient this year. That will count as a 2012 gift,
   even if the donee does not deposit the check into his or her account until next year.
   Remember that if you don’t use up the full $13,000-per-donee exclusion this year,
   you lose the shortfall forever. You can’t give a donee extra next year to make up for it.
3. If you’re giving securities, endorse them over to the donee and deliver them
   by year-end if you want the gift to count for 2012. If you send them to the corporation
   late in the year to be retitled, the process might not be completed by Dec. 31.

Davis & Hodgdon Associates CPAs is proud to serve Vermont’s residents and entrepreneurs. Our proactive approach is just one of the things that makes us more than just an accounting firm, we counsel our Burlington metro-area clients and beyond on a wide range of financial and management issues, resulting in better decision making and more confidence in their success. For more information please contact our office at 802.878.1963 or email [email protected].