Category: Taxes
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Tax Law proves to be damaging: one year analysis
This well-written article by CBS News summarizes the effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on it’s one year anniversary. The results confirm that America’s tax professionals were correct in our earlier criticism. The law’s primary effect is to widen the wealth gap with 10 times the amount of benefit going to investors as…
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Employee vs. Independent Contractor: protecting the small business employer
The question of independent contractor or an employee has long been a concern to small businesses. The IRS has changed its guidance significantly over the decades of my career. The most current IRS guidance is perhaps the most complex and subject to interpretation. In the small business world, classification as an independent contractor often result…
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Full small business service payroll now available at $30.00 per week
Update for 2022: prices are increased for most services but the concepts remain the same. Update: Independent accountants (like us) purchase these payroll processing services under a wholesale arrangement at a lower price and then add an amount to cover our own services. The end result is that it that pricing of payroll services is…
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How to contact Pennsylvania Office of Taxpayers’ Rights Advocate to request assistance?
How do I contact the Office of Taxpayers’ Rights Advocate to request assistance? Phone: (717) 772-9347 Fax: (717) 787-8264 E-mail: pataxadvocate@pa.gov Mailing address: PA Department of Revenue Office of Taxpayers’ Rights Advocate Lobby, Strawberry Square Harrisburg, PA 17128-0101 Taxpayers should include a completed Taxpayer Request for Assistance form (REV-556) with all written correspondence.…
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Use of trade name triggers 24% backup withholding
A nonprofit company received notice from the IRS that it is to withhold 24% of the total on future payments to one of its major vendors as “backup withholding. Neither the vendor nor the nonprofit was happy with this burden! It turns out that even though the Taxpayer Identification Number was correct on the Form…
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Five factors that put you at greatest risk of higher income taxes
Most people across the country will have lower federal income taxes in 2018 than in 2017. But that’s not true of my core group of clients in the Philadelphia and New Jersey area. This blog post list the characteristics that put a taxpayer at highest risk of facing a higher tax bill this coming spring.…
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It’s apparently a good time to be a tax criminal
Data points extracted from the most recent The Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council Public Report, November 2018: IRS budget has been cut $14.5 billion since 2010 Close to 24,000 jobs amounting to 25% of work force were cut More than 17,000 of those former employees were working in enforcement IRS staff is aged; 40.5 percent are…
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In support of NJ Senate Bill 2293 “Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act”
I read two social media editorials by taxpayers encouraging voters to vote against Senate Bill 2293 known as the “Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act“. This blog post is an editorial in support of the bill. My argument is broken down into a brief listing of the facts followed by four points of personal opinion.…
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A simple view of the 20% pass through deduction
A business friend asked a simple question online: “What doe the pass-through deduction mean to me?” The collective response was so vague and convoluted that I felt sorry for her for asking. After thinking about it, there are two things that are uncertain and one that is certain about the pass-through deduction that directly address…
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Tax Reform 2.0 update
This is a bullet point overview of the “Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act of 2018” (HR 6760), the “Family Savings Act of 2018” (HR 6757) and the “American Innovation Act” (HR 6756), that are collectively referred to as “Tax Reform 2.0” as passed by the House of Representatives on September 27-28, 2018.…