Category: Taxes
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Accounting for volunteer services provided to a nonprofit organization
The accounting treatment of services donated to a nonprofit frequently comes up in conversation. This blog post is meant to simplify three of the most common scenarios if those discussions: Should a nonprofit include the value of donated services in its reported revenue? No, unless the contributed service either: 1) creates a new non-financial asset,…
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Changing address with IRS
I would guess that half of the IRS client tax dispute matters I handle involve some form of failed notification in the storyline. The most common cause is a failure to record an appropriate change of address. Changing address with IRS is simple: Complete a form 8822 (8822-B for businesses) and mail it in. Here…
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Initial thoughts on tax season wrap up and where to go from here
Initial thoughts on the wrap up of tax season: 1. OVERALL: It was the roughest tax season in my 30+ years, yet it was not as bad for me as many others tax professionals reported. Tax accountants’ online discussion groups are filled with stories of excess stress, it’s health impact, and threats of retirement from…
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Legal requirements to release the tax returns of candidates for public office
In the aftermath of revelations about the president’s financial scandals, a number of states are moving forward with bills that would require all candidates for public office to release tax returns in order to be listed on the ballot. This blog post does not attempt to list the states, the bills or their status. We…
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Update on accounting business practices
In the normal course of business it is necessary to periodically update for changing trends, technology and legal and industry standards. This month I made the following six changes that will be reflected in future engagements: 1. Elimination of fax communications. Fax is just outdated, often insecure and inefficient. Instead, I encourage the use of…
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Five reasons that you don’t know about tax-free stocks
Our government taxes most kinds of income. The exceptions list of tax-free income is short. One of the least known sources of tax-free income is gains on qualified small business stock ownership. Gains on qualified small business stock is completely exempt from tax. So why haven’t you heard this before? Here are five good reasons:…
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Goodbye miscellaneous tax deductions
These miscellaneous tax deductions were eliminated a year ago (effective January 1, 2018) by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act but some people are just leaning about the change now: Appraisal fees Casualty and theft losses for personal property Expenses incurred in performing services as an employee Clerical help for investments Office rent for investments…
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Text messaging for income tax filing
We notice that a growing portion of our tax clients prefer to communicate by text message over other methods like live in-person, telephone, fax, email, and video call. It is clear that texting is the #1 tax communication method now, exceeding the combined use of all other methods. The IRS and state tax authorities do…
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Tax filing trends indicate future direction for professionals
We are only half way through the tax filing season but so far the IRS reports that tax filer behaviors are significantly different than a year ago. The number of tax returns filed has dropped by more than 12% and the number of paid preparer returns (often including the more complicated tax returns) dropped even…
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Strippers draw attention to changing tax law
Who would have guessed that strippers would be on the cutting edge of changing tax law? The laws that distinguish between contractors and employees are changing in some states. California’s strippers are in the spotlight. Yesterday strippers protested the new state law in San Diego. They like the independence of being classified as contractors yet…