Category: Tax Planning
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First glance at the Republican tax reform bill
The Republican tax reform bill has no t yet been released. This blog post is meant as a brief summary of the issues most important to individuals and small businesses as reported by news sources. Significant provisions Individual tax rates are 12%, 25% and 35% and 39.6% The standard deduction would be increased so fewer…
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Estate tax repeal is a dead issue for now
We should no longer expect a repeal of the estate tax in the foreseeable future. The estate tax affects only multi-millionaires and, in short, there is no political will to change this part of tax law to appease that small group of privileged Americans. Estate tax repeal was brought up in the news yesterday as…
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Primer on Tax Transcripts
In this age we know that information is power. Tax transcripts are increasingly important for providing primary information to efficiently handle federal tax issues. As a tax adviser, I find that the level of federal tax information available to clients is poor and is often dominated by misinformation and misunderstanding. Tax transcripts give us the most…
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What is ahead for tax reform?
Tax reform in 2017-2018 is focused on reducing taxes for affluent individuals and large corporations. Dramatic cuts are proposed by the President and some Republican members of Congress. It could be a game-changer for tax planners like me who use these tax laws to find ways for clients to pay less. Yet the public overwhelmingly…
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Everybody loves a tax cut
Americans have been clear and consistent in their opinions that corporations and wealthy people do not pay their fair share of the tax burden. We’ve known and accepted this as reality for most of our lives with little or no government action to make the system more fair. This public opinion has been largely unaffected by…
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LinkedIn ProFinder to market low cost tax services
updated November 9, 2017 I tested a new marketing tool using LinkedIn ProFinder to promote my low-cost online tax filing service. This blog post explains my project and hopefully serves as a basis for further marketing discussion among peers and advisers. This post documents the process I used to develop and test the online lead generation…
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Add impact to ‘Not My President’s Day’
Resolve today to take a strong personal stance to avoid paying federal income taxes. Just make sure to do it safely and legally! On this historic “Not My President’s Day” I am reminded that civil protest has its limitations. Don’t get me wrong; I strongly support and encourage civil protest. Consider the old folk song “Charlie…
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We help with Turbotax returns
Self-preparers have an easy option for professional support! For many years I’ve promoted the concept that most people should be able to file their own tax return without outside help. In cases where the taxes are based on salaried income, investment income and other well-documented sources, it makes sense to file your own taxes online and…
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The short list of legal income tax avoidance tools
Most of the legal tax saving strategies used successfully by individual taxpayers in the U.S. stem from just 12 tactics. These are frequently observed in tax practice and confirmed by the IRS1 as the most expensive to the government. All of these avoid federal income tax: Earnings of nonprofit business organizations Qualified employee benefits Deferred compensation…