Author: Tony Novak
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New Jersey Taxes 4th Highest in U.S.
Kiplinger’s Magazine, November 2020, ranked New Jersey as the 4th worst state for total taxes paid by middle income residents. This poor ranking was triggered solely by our high property taxes. Kiplinger’s wrote: “For middle-class families in the Garden State, income taxes are relatively low when compared with other states. New Jersey checked with the…
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2021 Tax and Financial Planning
Why do many people pay more than on dollar out of every four that they earn in some type of tax while a few people legally pay little or no taxes? What is the most practical way for you to reduce taxes while increasing your net wealth over the long term? This is the essence…
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Low Income Taxpayer Clinics
Time and again we see that taxpayers who run into trouble should not attempt to resolve the problem themselves. It almost always makes sense to rely on professional representation. A professional will usually reduce the tax liability by far more than their fee. But tax professionals can be expensive and not all taxpayers can afford…
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TAX ALERT: Non-employee compensation
SIGNIFICANT TAX NEWS CHANGE ABOUT NON-EMPLOYEE COMPENATION: The IRS revived the use of Form 1099-NEC for use in reporting non-employee compensation for 2020. This form was last used in 1982 but now will be used to report 2020 non-employee compensation. Corresponding changes were made to the old 1099-MISC form. The due dates are also changed.…
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2020 IRS Report on its Operations
IRS just released the 195 page “General Report of the 2020 Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council“. I read the applicable sections on small business and nonprofits that affects me and my clients. The key relevant concepts are: 1) IRS currently lacks the funding to operate effectively to collect the taxes necessary to run federal government.…
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Redefining my ideal client and target market
Small business advisers suggest that the more specifically we define and distinguish our target market and our ideal client, the greater our chances of business success. To say it another way, few business advisers would recommend that an accountant like me simply offer his services to ‘the world’. Instead, most develop a niche of expertise…
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A comment about Brave browser
I use Brave as my preferred browser and Duck Duck Go as the internal search engine. I tested it on a part-time basis over a period of about 6 months and finally uninstalled Chrome on all devices last month. All private data including usernames and passwords is kept separately (by Lastpass) and not stored by…
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Seven observations from COVID tax season
Many of us tax professionals are wrapping up the most challenging tax season of our lives. I’m pretty well on pace to finish early for the deadline on the 15th so I paused to write a few short reflections: At least one client won’t file taxes this year primarily due to depression. A few others…
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Safety planning for 2021 post-pandemic: a personal choice
By all accounts, we are not yet halfway through the worst of the COVID pandemic as we soon enter the cold weather season. The most basic point of what we now know is that it spreads easily through the air with prolonged contact. Even indoor ventilation systems pose a significant spread risk. We also know…