Category: Taxes
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Two easy ways to avoid tax misinformation
In 2017 and again in 2021, Americans suffered the effects of deliberate lies about U.S. tax policy fed through news media and politicians. In contrast to well-vetted public process that led to the major Tax Reform Act of 1986, the current tax lawmaking process of our federal tax law is crude and largely based on…
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Head’s up to New Jersey small contracting businesses
NJ Department of Revenue ramped up audits of small contracting businesses. This week I’ve seen or heard of more than a dozen audits case notices. The actions started last month. The initial audit notice is for sales tax. But my concern is that sales tax is not the real risk for these businesses. Many of…
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Noncash charitable donations
A snapshot of #tax issues related to large non-cash charitable deductions: – Taxpayers can avoid paying income tax on up to half of their income by making a donation to a properly registered #charity, so this is an important area of tax practice and dispute – Most taxpayers do not make charitable donations large enough…
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My tax manifesto
Tax is complicated.The system is broken.The collective knowledge is immense.The collective misinformation might be more immense.So far, nobody died.
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Over due taxes: do I need a payment plan?
“If I have overdue taxes, do I need a payment plan?”It depends. There are many examples of when a payment plan will save you time and money and preserve your credit score. But there are other situations where it makes sense to handle it a different way. I’m happy to discuss the options that pertain…
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How we handle tax fraud
I wrote this comment tonight to a young Enrolled Agent struggling with a client committing tax fraud who described herself as naïve about the human behavior behind it. “XXXXXXX, this is a general comment and not in any way meant as a negative personal thing. I would suspect that anyone putting the massive time and…
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Explanation: When there is no agreement on fees for this tax season
My professional practice is based on the principle of providing high value low cost services to working class clients. Most all of my clients have household incomes under $1 million and consider themselves “working class”. As a result, most of my fees tend to fall range of 1% to 2% of a client’s gross annual…
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Taxes are complicated!
Tax legislation is certainly complex. But, in reality, tax legislation is only about a million words in total. That’s about the length of seven novels. It would be manageable it that was all we had to consider. But tax law includes a lot more than just the legislation. A tax professional must have an understanding…
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Confusion over tax return due dates
Here is the simple scoop you need to know: Partnerships and S-corporations are due March 15. The reason these are filed first is that the information reported must flow through and be used as input to prepare other types of tax returns to follow. This is why tax geeks refer to them as “flow through…
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Top 10 IRS audit triggers and what you should do about it if you are at risk
Here are the top 10 IRS tax audit triggers, as compiled and published by The Wall Street Journal1 on March 5, 2022:1. Education tax credits2. Small businesses3. Child tax credit4. Cryptocurrency5. Earned income tax credit6. Large charitable deductions7. Rental income8. Home office deductions9. Early withdrawals from IRAs and 401(k)s10. Health premium tax credit If you…