Category: Taxes
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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.…
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New Jersey real estate tax credit program made simple
This post attempts to list in simplified wording what we know and what we don’t know about New Jersey’s new real estate tax credit program. What we know: 1. In May of 2018 the tax credit program became law, even though most details of its operation were missing. 2. The program allows taxpayers to take…
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PDF document handling in 2018
The Internal Revenue Service, state revenue departments and many other branches of government and industry rely heavily on the Portable Document File (PDF) format handling electronic documents. It follows then, that a tax professional needs to be up-to-date in handling PDFs with maximum security and efficiency. According to Wikipedia, the Portable Document Format (PDF) is a…
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Sample small matters, financial planning and tax services engagement agreement
This is a sample high-value agreement for ‘piecemeal’ or small matter individual and small business financial, accounting and tax services performed outside of an agreement for comprehensive or ongoing services. The agreement incorporates cost-saving technologies and procedures to save time and money while maintaining a high level of professional service (revised April 4, 2019). Contents:…
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Fast Facts about the US economy
A few rich politicians are touting the “miracle economy” and unfortunately this propaganda is effective in fooling some people. Here is the real story for average Americans: REAL EARNINGS ARE GOING DOWN FOR MOST PEOPLE. We earn less than we used to when measured as purchasing power. We’ve had the greatest drop in real wages…
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Responding to false tax and accounting advice
I ran across a social media post tonight that was blatantly false. What’s the big deal? We see that every day, right? This specific post on LinkedIn bothered me because the topic was IRS taxes. The post provides entirely incorrect information that a non-professional reader would not likely recognize as false. The author lists advanced…