Category: Taxes
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We need better information on tax collection trends
Anecdotal observations: My own anecdotal experience and online comments from other tax professionals indicates that tax audits and collection activity have increased this year at all levels – federal, state and local. This observation of rapidly increasing tax collection activities is not reflected in published data. Discrepancy between published data vs observed data: Four months…
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When “Hire an expert” doesn’t work for taxes
When we seek information on complex business or personal tax matters, the conventional appropriate advice is “hire an expert”. I do not disagree. I use tax and legal experts often. But increasingly I see why that advice is not useful for clients from a practical viewpoint. Consider these counter points: 1) The pool of specific…
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No tax change coming
The Inflation Protection Act (IRA) is expected to be passed by Congress this weekend and signed into law by the President shortly thereafter. This is an appropriate time to repeat a reminder that there will be no significant change in income tax liability to anyone reading our publications. This message repeats the tax forecast offered…
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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…