Category: Taxes
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Pass through income exclusion for rental properties
If you own investment real estate, maybe your taxes will be lower, or maybe not. One of the most uncertain issues of 2018 tax reporting was clarified today by IRS Notice 2019-7. This notice provides a safe harbor for determination of when a rental property is a business that qualifies for the 20% exclusion from…
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Tax fraud case with the highest implications
A high profile multi-million dollar international tax fraud case (Unites States vs. Natalia Veselnitskaya 18 CRIM 904) took a dark turn last week then a sealed indictment by federal prosecutors was revealed to the public. To be clear, this tax fraud case does not involve anyone in U.S. government. Yet this case brought special attention because…
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Tax services fees in 2019 (for 2018 tax returns)
In 2020 ( for 2019 tax returns) I adopted a new business model that includes income tax return preparation as one of a bundle of services designed to streamline your compliance requirements and improve overall financial performance. Pricing is based on a monthly fee rather than a transactional fee, starting at $100 for individuals and…
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2019 Tax Planning and Support Tools Available
Through our 2019 license agreement with CFS Software, we offer a large number of support forms and estimated tax calculators. If you would benefit from a demonstration of the powers of any of these functions or planning calculations, please let us know. General Utilities and Retirement Calculations: 5 Year Federal/State Tax Planner After-Tax Loan Refinance…
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Simplify the business of life
This blog title is a slogan used by the world’s most popular personal and small business software maker. For my purposes as an adviser, I’m using it here to refer to the accounting for essential financial transactions between an employer and employee: payroll, taxes and employee benefits. Small businesses have wide latitude in some areas of…
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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…