Category: Taxes
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2021: the year of tax misinformation
2021 may be remembered as the year when more taxpayers were hurt by bad tax advice than any other. Some recently published sources say millions were led astray by just one illegal strategy involving IRAs. The scam was promoted by just a few sales companies but gained viral popularity as quickly as other fake news…
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Pricing variation of tax preparers based on community size
The National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP) found that the national average hourly rate charged by tax preparers varied greatly by the size of the community where they worked. Those in rural areas charge much less than those in mid-sized towns and cities. This trend was revealed in NATP’s annual member survey. Of course, I…
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Disowning the IRS disaster
This week I created a form letter email to set the background expectations before scheduling a talk with a current or prospective client on a tax resolution issue. It is certainly not something that I ever imagined would be necessary in almost four decades of tax practice. But it is critical, I think, to set…
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Business tax problem resolution
The most typical course of action of business tax resolution: Problem Proposed solution New problem Revised solution New problem Revised solution New problem Revised solution New problem Revised solution Business closes The take home lessons: The statistical fact is that the majority of business tax resolution plans do not succeed as envisioned. We are working…
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LLC and S Corporation terminology
The purpose of this post is to illustrate the use of precise terminology regarding the most common legal and tax issues of small business LLCs and S corporations. It is not meant to be comprehensive but rather to clearly state issues that we hear raised most frequently. LLC LEGAL/ORGANIZATION – A Limited Liability Company (LLC)…
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Unlicensed tax preparers
Key points of unlicensed tax preparers: There are about 500,000 unlicensed tax preparers in the U.S. IRS is concerned about fraud and incompetence among tax preparers. There is no implication that all unlicensed preparers are problematic. We need these unlicensed tax preparers in our economy. Other tax preparers – attorneys, CPAs and EAs – are…
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Tax provisions of the infrastructure bill
Why are we discussing this? The infrastructure bill passed the Senate this month with a strong majority support but is not yet law. What tax provisions are included? Cryptocurrency broker reporting is the hot topic. The bill also includes a longer tax filing extension after disasters. (This is important because we expect to see more natural…
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The bitcoin conversation
Text message from Facebook friend: “Quick question: what are your thoughts on bitcoin? My sons keep telling me I need to get into. My accountant at present advises not. I only ask as I know you are a fountain of knowledge in the accounting world and just wanted to learn your opinion. Thanks!” Me: “What…
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What to do if you receive a ‘Notice of Intent to Levy’ from IRS
Beginning tomorrow, the IRS intends to dramatically increase the number of aggressive enforcement action notifications. Thousands will receive these scary notices within the week. Collections using new technology and aggressive techniques will likely continue to ramp up over the next few years. If you receive a collection notice, I strongly recommend: don’t panic, most tax…
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Shockingly poor IRS customer service (and what to do about it)
We knew from earlier IRS statements that about one million tax returns from 2019 remain unprocessed and I’ve covered that in earlier blog posts. Many of these are paper filed returns. But now we hear that 16 to 17 million tax returns for 2020 are backlogged and many of these people are waiting for refunds.…