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Benjamin Franklin famously wrote, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” And while the 2014 tax season is behind us, you can be sure that next year’s will come around again before you know it. The best time to start preparing is right now.

Recently, two significant propositions passed that are especially meaningful for small business owners in California. New California Incentives AB93 and SB90 are set to alter and reshape the way that roughly $750 million is distributed annually towards building enterprises.

You’ve found a great deal on flights, a perfect hotel room minutes away from the beach, and an affordable rental car that will get you and your family of four around town. However, what you may not have taken into account are potential taxes, which could turn your carefully budgeted summer getaway into a lot more than you bargained for.

As small employers know, the FUTA tax is collected to fund the state agencies which provide unemployment compensation to workers who lose their jobs. Generally, employers pay a FUTA tax rate of 6 percent on the first $7,000 of covered wages paid to each employee during the year.

Selling inevitably leads to taxes, but investors can minimize the amount of money they pay to the government with some careful planning. Below are five things you need to know in order to trim your investment taxes:

1. Capital-gain rates are up for the wealthy.

Tax controversy lawyers are constantly thrown a myriad of issues that reflect the government’s current agenda. The latest segment that has grasped tax lawyers’ attention is the application of the passive activity loss rules. In addition to several audits in this area, the Tax Court has been issuing opinions about passive activity loss rules on a regular basis.

According to the Supreme Court, in a recent case involving the Bankruptcy Code’s exemption for retirement funds, a retirement account is not a retirement account if it is an inherited IRA and the owner is bankrupt.

Typically, when a person files for bankruptcy, funds they set aside for retirement can be exempt from the estate.

The IRS has adopted the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, a new list that will become a guidebook for taxpayers to help them understand what services and courtesies they are entitled to. A recent survey showed that most taxpayers didn’t even know they had specific rights before the IRS introduced the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.