Tip Income

If you work in an occupation where tips are part of your total compensation, you need to be aware of several facts relating to your federal income taxes. Here are four things the IRS wants you to know about tip income:

          1. Tips are taxable. Tips are subject to federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes. The value of non�cash tips, such as tickets, passes or other items of value, is also income and subject to tax.

          2. Include tips on your tax return. You must include in gross income all cash tips you receive directly from customers, tips added to credit cards, and your share of any tips you receive under a tip�splitting arrangement with fellow employees.

          3. Report tips to your employer. If you receive $20 or more in tips in any one month, you should report all of your tips to your employer. Your employer is required to withhold federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes.

          4. Keep a running daily log of your tip income. You can use IRS Publication 1244, Employee's Daily Record of Tips and Report to Employer, to record your tip income.

If you itemize your deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A, you may be able to deduct expenses you paid in 2010 for medical care � including dental � for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents. Here are six things the IRS wants you to know about medical and dental expenses and other benefits.

          1. You may deduct only the amount by which your total medical care expenses for the year exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. You do this calculation on Form 1040, Schedule A in computing the amount deductible.

          2. You can only include the medical expenses you paid during the year. Your total medical expenses for the year must be reduced by any reimbursement. It makes no difference if you receive the reimbursement or if it is paid directly to the doctor or hospital.

          3. You may include qualified medical expenses you pay for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents, including a person you claim as a dependent under a multiple support agreement. If either parent claims a child as a dependent under the rules for divorced or separated parents, each parent may deduct the medical expenses he or she actually pays for the child. You can also deduct medical expenses you paid for someone who would have qualified as your dependent except that the person didn't meet the gross income or joint return test.

          4. A deduction is allowed only for expenses primarily paid for the prevention or alleviation of a physical or mental defect or illness. Medical care expenses include payments for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or treatment affecting any structure or function of the body. The cost of drugs is deductible only for drugs that require a prescription except for insulin.

          5. You may deduct transportation costs primarily for and essential to medical care that qualify as medical expenses. The actual fare for a taxi, bus, train, or ambulance may be deducted. If you use your car for medical transportation, you can deduct actual out-of-pocket expenses such as gas and oil, or you can deduct the standard mileage rate for medical expenses. With either method you may include tolls and parking fees.

Distributions from Health Savings Accounts and withdrawals from Flexible Spending Arrangements may be tax free if you pay qualified medical expenses.

In today�s economy, small business owners sometimes look to the oldest form of commerce � the exchange of goods and services, or bartering. The IRS wants to remind small business owners that the fair market value of property or services received through barter is taxable income.

Bartering is the trading of one product or service for another. Usually there is no exchange of cash. However, the fair market value of the goods and services exchanged must be reported as income by both parties.
Here are four facts about bartering that the IRS wants small business owners to be aware of:

          1. Barter Exchange: A barter exchange functions primarily as the organizer of a marketplace where members buy and sell products and services among themselves. Whether this activity operates out of a physical office or is internet based, a barter exchange is generally required to issue Form 1099-B, Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions, annually to their clients or members and to the IRS.

          2. Barter Income: Barter dollars or trade dollars are identical to real dollars for tax reporting. If you conduct any direct barter - barter for another�s products or services - you will have to report the fair market value of the products or services you received on your tax return.

          3. Taxes: Income from bartering is taxable in the year it is performed. Bartering may result in liabilities for income tax, self-employment tax, employment tax, or excise tax. Your barter activities may result in ordinary business income, capital gains or capital losses, or you may have a nondeductible personal loss.

Reporting: The rules for reporting barter transactions may vary depending on which form of bartering takes place. Generally, you report this type of business income on Form 1040, Schedule C Profit or Loss from Business, or other business returns such as Form 1065 for Partnerships, Form 1120 for Corporations, or Form 1120-S for Small Business Corporations.