Author: Tony Novak
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The golden age of tax fraud:
IRS Commissioner Werfel resigned yesterday. By almost all accounts, he was one of the better Commissioners of our era based on his work to modernize service and enforcement. His tenure is widely praised for laying a foundation for digital transformation of the agency and enhancing IRS enforcement capabilities. His proposed replacement is best known for…
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Re-examining my social media strategy
Lately it seems like a hot button topic in my social media is tax shelters for W2 earners.
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40 Years of Tax Writing
I was living in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, while working for an investment banking firm headquartered in Manhattan. For convenience, I flew out of Bader Field in Atlantic City to LaGuardia Airport from my second home in Ocean City. It might sound like a cushy gig when I write it that way, but it was not. I…
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Coping with new online banking trends and terminology
“settled” “cleared”, “cancelled”, etc. do not necessarily mean what we think they mean
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Assumptions for addressing the technology ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’
It is clear that 2025 marks the point that the strong majority of larger firms will integrate AI into their core operations. 2025 marks the year that the largest and most powerful firms turn their attention beyond AI to superintelligence that will rock the word beyond our current imagination. Beyond these two clear trends, the…
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What is the status of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion measures in 2025?
Times are changing. DEI policy execution is shifting to local, private and some state level programs. Where do we stand now?
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Online security review for 2025
Like all financial advisers, my online security strategy is summarized in a Written Information Security Plan (WISP) that requires periodic review. The beginning of the year is a good time for me to do that. I rely on five subscription applications for digital security for my sole practitioner office and just completed a beginning of…
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Service changes for 2025
My client engagement agreements are intended to end on December 31 unless otherwise agreed. The three significant items that changed from 2024 to 2025 are:
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Puzzling ATAX tax news yesterday
Update 12/21/2024: I am aware that at least two major media outlet tax reporters saw my post about this on social media but still no follow-up published, as far as I can see. Puzzling tax news yesterday: AI news digests suggest that the Rafael Alvarez of ATAX indicted in New York yesterday in one of…
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Why does Apple Intelligence seem useless to me?
Why is Apple Intelligence useless to me? I watched the 4 minute and 17 second introductory video to Apple Intelligence titled “AI for the rest of us” that is part of IOS 18 published at https://www.apple.com/apple-intelligence/. I am concerned that apparently I am not part of “the rest of us”. I do not want Apple…