Author: Tony Novak
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How many states will require you to file a nonresident tax return this year?
If you worked in, sold to customers in, or own property in another state, pay attention to avoid nasty penalties, legal action and collections. Seven states that do not require individual tax returns filed are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. That filing exemption goes for individual residents and non-residents*. Most other…
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Cash App misinformation for 2022; Five clarifying points*
When a bank, payment processor, finance company, cash app company, mortgage company, attorney, settlement agent, etc., reports a transaction to the IRS and/or a state revenue department, THIS DOES NOT MAKE THE AMOUNT REPORTED TAXABLE INCOME. There is NO CHANGE IN FEDERAL OR STATE TAX LAW in 2022 that changes the taxability of any transaction,…
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“My accountant disappeared”
Preface: For years industry observers have warned about the aging of existing CPA professionals, the growing portion that were working beyond intended retirement age, the mass exodus of middle level producers at larger firms, and the lack of younger accountants coming into the public accounting industry. Yet none of that predicted the accounting industry crisis…
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Tax court upholds IRS on charter boat tax accounting
A recent tax court case caught my attention because of the subject matter – a charter boat used as a tax shelter – but it quickly became apparent that the case had more to do with how different my boat charter clients are from the subject case. Small business activities, including charter boat activities, are…
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2021: the year of tax misinformation
2021 may be remembered as the year when more taxpayers were hurt by bad tax advice than any other. Some recently published sources say millions were led astray by just one illegal strategy involving IRAs. The scam was promoted by just a few sales companies but gained viral popularity as quickly as other fake news…
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My web site updated for 2022
Last night and this morning I reviewed, edited and updated all of the 46 pages on my web site. This does not include the blog posts section that total about 2,000, compiled from various sources since the middle 1990s. But it does include details to address the causes of business model failures we incurred this…
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After the fact payroll and defined contribution plans: the late December rush to save taxes
The two hottest small business tax planning topics in these final days of any year are: after-the-fact payroll, and defined contribution employee benefits. What this means is that simply by dating and documenting actions taken before December 31, the business and business owner can lock in valuable tax benefits. While some corrective or mediating action may…
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How bad tax advice tripped millions of investors
“Good tax advice may appear to be expensive, but it’s not as costly as blowing up your IRA” -WSJ What’s the easiest way to lose half of your retirement assets to IRS taxes and penalties? Follow the most popular social media tax and investment advice. Investors who lose tax court cases find that cultural norms…
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Avoiding SALT tax deduction limitation
Yesterday a financial advice column in NJ.com carried a Q&A from a guy who contemplated leaving New Jersey and moving to Florida because he could not deduct all of his state and local taxes. The post went methodically through all the pros and cons and associated calculations of the question posed. But it missed the…
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Reflections on 2021 business
As we wind down this year, I can say unequivocally that I’ve learned more during this period than any other time of my life. Financial results – I had the lowest gross income of my 40 year career, yet made big progress in paying off all consumer debt, improving my credit score (that was dinged…