All charitable donations aren’t created equal — some provide larger deductions than others. And it isn’t necessarily just how much or even what you donate that matters. How the charity uses your donation might also affect your deduction.

Summer is a popular time to move, whether it’s so the kids don’t have to change schools mid-school-year, to avoid having to move in bad weather or simply because it can be an easier time to sell a home. Unfortunately, moving can be expensive. The good news is that you might be eligible for a federal tax deduction for your moving costs.

Here are some of the key tax-related deadlines affecting businesses and other employers during the third quarter of 2017. Keep in mind that this list isn’t all-inclusive, so there may be additional deadlines that apply to you. Contact us to ensure you’re meeting all applicable deadlines and to learn more about the filing requirements.

A “buy-sell,” as it’s often called for short, is a contract set forth by the owner or owners of a business that describes how ownership changes will take place. Like a good insurance policy, one of these arrangements will help protect you and other owners in difficult times.

Currently, home ownership comes with many tax-saving opportunities. Consider both deductions and exclusions when you’re filing your 2016 return and tax planning for 2017:

Yes, there’s still time to make 2016 contributions to your IRA. The deadline for such contributions is April 18, 2017. If the contribution is deductible, it will lower your 2016 tax bill. But even if it isn’t, making a 2016 contribution is likely a good idea.

Rather than keeping track of the actual cost of operating a vehicle, employees and self-employed taxpayers can use a standard mileage rate to compute their deduction related to using a vehicle for business. But you might also be able to deduct miles driven for other purposes, including medical, moving and charitable purposes.

Retirement plan contribution limits are indexed for inflation, but with inflation remaining low most of the limits remain unchanged for 2017. The only limit that has increased from the 2016 level is for contributions to defined contribution plans, which has gone up by $1,000.

This is the tenth in a series of 10 blog posts related to the Top 10 Audit Findings of the U.S. Department of Education.

Untimely and/or incorrect reporting of G5 expenditures is the tenth item from a list of audit findings in order of number of deficiencies found.

Regulatory background

G5, formerly known as GAPS, is a delivery system used by Federal Student Aid (FSA) that supports program award and payment (drawdown) administration. It is a component of EDCAPS, U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) integrated financial processing system, managed and administered by the Department’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), and communicates with the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system through the Financial Management System (FMS).

There are basically two ways of receiving FSA from the ED including the advance payment method and what is known as the heightened cash monitoring method. For various reasons, the Department of Education may place institutions on a Heightened Cash Monitoring (HCM) payment method to provide additional oversight of cash management.

This is the ninth in a series of 10 blog posts related to the Top 10 Audit Findings of the U.S. Department of Education.

A qualified auditor’s opinion cited in the audit report is one of the top 10 audit findings by the U.S. Department of Education. Serious deficiencies and areas of concern included:

• - R2T4 violations
• - Inadequate accounting systems and/or procedures
• - Lack of internal controls

Receiving anything other than an unmodified (unqualified) opinion is a disturbing experience, but it does occur from time to time. It might help to know you’re not alone. Receiving a modified (qualified) audit opinion offers the opportunity to focus improvement efforts in identified areas of weakness in operations, financial reporting and compliance.