Review 2003 business tax returns. A new Internal Revenue Service regulation lets business owners amend their tax returns to include or increase the code Section 179 deduction (write-off of equipment purchases, including off-the-shelf software). Under prior rules, you couldn't change the amount of the deduction on an amended return, says Andy Biebl, a principal in the New Ulm, Minn., office of LarsonAllen, a CPA, consulting and business advisory firm. "However, the new opportunity only applies to tax years beginning in '03, '04, and '05," Biebl says. A review of clients' 2003 returns could identify opportunities to increase the deduction post hoc and get a refund of tax.
Last-minute charitable gifts. A contribution sent to a charity by U.S. mail is deductible in the year mailed. But when a private carrier is used, you get the deduction in the year the charity received it-"argument being that you can call the carrier until the moment they deliver the package and tell them not to deliver it," says Jeffrey Lauterbach, chairman, president and CEO of The Capital Trust Company of Delaware. "You can't do that with the U.S. mail," he says. Bottom line: Let the postal service deliver eleventh-hour contributions for you.