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Show Bottom Line More year end tax planning tips listed drcn (under 18), you may want to consider paying them a bonus. Their wages are not subject to social security taxes and will reduce your taxable income. Let the children chil-dren buy their own Christmas presents, pre-sents, school clothing and personal expendable items. Year end is a good time to take a look at your inventories, too. Sell off as much as you can. The more you sell, the higher your profitability. profitabili-ty. If you have some items that are not moving well, mark them down and move them out. Remember, your inventory items aren't making money for you if they are sitting on your racks or shelves. Worthless inventory should be discarded and written, off completely. com-pletely. Another alternative is to donate it to a worthwhile charity. And you can get an extra benefit from a donation like that, too. As a donation, you can deduct your cost in the inventory, plus half of the difference between your cost and the selling price. Some taxes will be going up next year. Social Security and self employment em-ployment rates are staying the same, but the maximum wages subject to these taxes will go up to $48,000. State unemployment limits go up to $13,600, too. Happy New Year. Editor's Note: Bottom Line author au-thor Kenneth J. Rose is the owner of Rose and Associates, a small business tax consulting, and financial finan-cial planning firm in Bountiful. By KENNETH J. ROSE This year, perhaps more than others, I have been able to spend more time on year end planning techniques, simply by spending several articles instead of one on the topics. Here are a few more. First, you may want to consider paying off as much personal debt as you can. Interest on those car loans and credit cards is only 40 percent deductible this year and will drop to 20 percent next year. If you can't pay it off, think about a home equity loan. The restrictions and limitations limi-tations that the IRS originally placed on the deductibility of interest inter-est on these loans has been relaxed somewhat and you generally will be able to deduct it in full. There are some things to watch for in these loans, though. Most financial fi-nancial institutions are very anxious to make the loan, but make sure that you know what you are getting. Ask for all of the terms, and shop around. Check with more than one lender. The beginning rates may be more attractive at one, but they may raise those rates considerably once you have the loan and after ' a reasonable introductory period. All of this information must be disclosed dis-closed to you as the borrower. If you own your business, year end is a good time to look carefully at your tax situation. If your business busi-ness is a corporation, you could take a bonus to keep the taxes down in the business, especially if the corporate cor-porate income level is in the highest bracket, 34 percent The top individual indivi-dual rate that you would pay is 28 percent. However, be sure to look at what state income taxes will do as well. The top rate for corporations in Utah is five percent, but is 7.35 percent per-cent for individuals. Also you may have some items that will reduce taxable income for federal, but not for state taxes. If you are a sole proprietorship and employ your dependent chil- |