Category: Taxes
-
Tax Preparation Service Offered Through LinkedIn ProFinder
This will be my second year using LinkedIn ProFinder service to match me with online tax service clients. The service was only marginally successful last year (the cost of providing the service was approximately equal to the fee received) last season but I decided to participate again because I found one new client who I…
-
Referral fee for 2017 tax season
This year I am offering $50 referral fee to existing clients for new small business clients including ‘gig workers’ who are required to file a Schedule C. A $50 discount is also given to the referred new client. For individual tax clients, the deal is the same except the reward if $25 for the referer and…
-
An accountant’s telephone call to IRS
subtitle: Why IRS representation can be slow and expensive Today I called the IRS Professional Hotline, waited 25 minutes, then got disconnected by live person picking up the call. (This is a common response in peak call time). I call back to the IRS Professional hotline, wait 20 minutes, reach a live gent, confirm taxpayer…
-
How to address the 2018 increase in small business corporation taxes
Effective January 1, 2018 the corporate tax rate for the first $50,000 of earned income jumps from 15% to 21%. That 6 percent increase translates to an additional $3,000 federal income tax due for 2018 for a small corporation. Thousands of small businesses are affected. Some are understandably irate that a tax law called the…
-
Break free from Philadelphia tax notices
If you have no tax filing obligation with the City of Philadelphia but they continue to send your business the filing requirement notices anyway then you need to file a “Change Form“. In some cases you might even need to file the form a couple of times. The trigger for a tax filing is a…
-
Outside sales representatives hit by a tax increase January 2018
If you are an employee with large unreimbursed business expenses then you either need to ask for a raise immediately of prepare for a potentially large tax increase. One of the most common types of occupations affected is outside sales representative however any employee in any occupation with work-related expenses would be affected the same way.…
-
Legislative History as Tax Authority: an Obsolete Concept?
Early in my professional tax career I learned about the concept of legislative history as tax authority. In fact a large part of any legal education is learning to evaluate evidence based on its qualitative characteristics, statutory consideration or local rules. In tax law this hierarchy of authority becomes the logical and legally supportable basis that…
-
Terminology of Federal Income Taxes
Lately we’ve heard plenty of discussion about tax law. It seems especially common right now when tax terms have come up multiple times in casual conversation this past week at coffee, family dinner and email from a client. In some cases the terms are misused or misunderstood. Like many types of discussion, meaningful communication depends…
-
The Tax Organizer Fallacy
This is the time of the year when tax preparers sent their clients “Tax Organizers” with a note saying this is necessary to properly prepare your tax return. The Tax Organizer presumably makes the tax preparation process go more smoothly and minimizes omissions. The organizer is a multi-page document that can take hours to complete.…
-
All taxes are political: Where we stand today with tax reform fallout
Here’s an update in bullet point format: Strong public opposition – It is clear from multiple sources now that the majority of Americans are opposed to the new tax law on the basis that it borrows from our future through massive deficit spending immediately. When the temporary tax cut expires our taxes are expected to…