Don't Mess With Taxes

via GIPHY Getting fired is never fun. Most of us have been there or have a family member or close friend who's lost a job. Sometimes people get let go when they're paying for services. It happens every year at accounting and tax preparation offices across the United States. The reasons tax professionals cut some taxpayers loose are many and varied, as I blogged about years ago in my posts Are you a good or bad tax client? and Bad tax clients, revisited. All types of troublesome taxpayers: Sometimes, famous customers get dumped, too. Recent case in point, Donald J.... Read more →

New phishing scam targets tax pros, but everyone needs to be on guard The Internal Revenue Service today warned tax professionals about a new spearphishing scam. I'm surprised we made it into February before the latest tax scam appeared. This email scam uses the IRS logo. It also tries to ramp up the already urgent tax season by using a variety of subject lines, such as "Action Required: Your account has now been put on hold." The IRS provided bogus text of this scam below. Your account has now been put on hold ALL preparers are required to apply security... Read more →

Photo by Lamar Belina from Pexels After pressure from members of Congress, the National Taxpayer Advocate, and the Tax Professionals United for Taxpayer Relief Coalition, a group of organizations formed the to help make this third Covid-affected tax season a bit smoother, the Internal Revenue Service has decided to suspend sending of most taxpayer notices. This latest moratorium on taxpayer notices is the second in less than two weeks. It comes on the heels of the major taxpayer problems created by issuance of automated collection notices, or CP-80s. These alerts normally go out when a taxpayer owes tax, and the... Read more →

The Year of the Tiger arrived today. You might want to incorporate, as well as control, some of that big cat's tendencies this month as you approach the filing of your 2021 taxes. (Photo by Jiří Mikoláš from Pexels) February 1 brings us the shortest month of the year, the Lunar New Year of the Tiger, and the perfect time to take care of some tax tasks. Since we only have 28 days, let's get right to three tax matters you should take care of this month. 1. Tame your filing tiger: While you might think you're ready to pounce... Read more →

Today is EITC Awareness Day! OK, Jan. 28 isn't an official holiday to celebrate the Earned Income Tax Credit, usually referred to (at least in the tax world) by its acronym EITC. But it is an annual event promoted by the Internal Revenue Service. Every year in late January, the tax agency focuses on getting the word out about the EITC. The reason is simple. Millions of individuals regularly overlook the EITC and surrendering thousands of dollars they could use. The EITC itself, however, is not so easy to claim. That's why a lot of folks ignore it. The IRS... Read more →

The 2022 tax filing season officially begins on Monday, Jan. 24. Some people, however, are not convinced the Internal Revenue Service is ready. The concern isn't just about the millions of 2021 returns that will be flooding the IRS' system, but also the millions of returns the agency is still processing from the previous COVID-affected filing seasons. That backlog and continuing challenges prompted a coalition of tax practitioners and advocacy groups to write the IRS and Treasury Department, urging those leaders to "take steps to ameliorate the situation." Specifically, the representatives from 11 tax and public advocacy organizations want the... Read more →

Photo by Kay Bell I'm married to a procrastinator. The most infuriating thing about it is not that he puts off things, but that occasionally he's right to not rush to finish projects. And yes, projects is a euphemism for tasks I've asked him to do. Sometimes situations change, making moot what originally looked like the right move. Other times, the delay prevents making what would have been a wrong action. And in a few cases, if a job was done on my timetable, the changed circumstances would have meant redoing it. So over the many years we've been together,... Read more →

Photo by Kay Bell The 2022 filing season is already underway for many taxpayers even though the Internal Revenue Service won't start processing their returns until Jan. 24. But these early bird filers are on to something. Here are eight reasons you might want to consider completing your Form 1040 soon. 1. To get the rest of your Child Tax Credit. Around 36 million families last year got an early tax benefit. The IRS delivered half of their 2021 tax year Child Tax Credit (CTC) in advance as monthly payments from last July through December. The maximum advance amounts were... Read more →

I know I said this last year, but once again, I have never been so ready for a fresh start! The last two years were full of chaos, COVID-19 and otherwise, that affected every part of our lives, taxes included. So, recoveries from a New Year's Eve of hearty partying notwithstanding, let's get right to 2022 taxes! April Tax Day, but not the 15th: This year, the Internal Revenue Service is aiming to get back on a more normal cycle. Tax Day 2022 is in April. OK, it's on Monday the 18th instead of the 15th, but still. The three-day... Read more →

The United States has a voluntary compliance tax system. Uncle Sam trusts all of us to follow the tax laws and file and pay any amounts that are due the U.S. Treasury. But Uncle Sam is no fool when it comes to taxes. He also has a system of penalties to encourage or, if we refuse, punish us for not fulfilling our tax responsibilities on our own. The most severe are criminal prosecutions. The Internal Revenue Service also employs civil actions to get taxes due. Most of us, though, are more familiar with the fines and fees that are assessed... Read more →

One of my favorite Lyle Lovett songs is "What Do You Do/The Glory of Love," where the Houston singer-songwriter shares the vocal spotlight with the incomparable Francine Reed. The lyric that initially caught my ear and makes me chuckle every time I hear it goes, "If you make all that money man, make damn sure it shows." That's a great exchange in a duet, but such showiness raised suspicions about a Dallas-area accountant accused of defrauding the COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). PPP fraud guilty plea: Steven Jalloul was indicted in September 2020 on charges he orchestrated a fraudulent scheme... Read more →

Photo by ivan sellar from Pexels You're finally ready to give up being the boss. Or maybe you got a great offer for your business. Or maybe the COVID-19 pandemic did a number on you and your company. Whatever your reason, you've decided it's time to close your company's doors. Make sure that during that process, you take taxes into account. The Internal Revenue Service offers these tips to business owners who've decided to call it quits. File the appropriate final return: This filing is for the year you close your business. The type of return you file, and the... Read more →

Photo by Liza Summer from Pexels Everyone needs help now and then. That truism especially applies to filing taxes. But not everyone can afford to hire a tax professional. That's where the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) programs come into play. For decades, these two programs have provided free tax preparation and filing assistance during the annual filing season to millions of lower- and middle-income taxpayers, as well as elderly filers. The Internal Revenue Service just announced its financial support for 334 VITA and TCE programs in 2022. Now the agency is looking... Read more →

Free tax-preparation and filing help is offered ever tax season through groups community groups nationwide, like this Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program run by the Summit-Medina, Ohio, United Way. As the COVID-compromised 2020 and 2021 tax filing seasons demonstrated, most taxpayers needed some help to make sure they got all the tax breaks they were entitled to, as well as just file their annual returns. That need for tax assistance isn't going away, even if we do (fingers and toes tightly crossed) get to a more normal tax season next year. And volunteers who've received the Internal Revenue Service... Read more →

The Great Resignation created by folks deciding not to return to their jobs after extended COVID-19 absences has led to a lot of new businesses. That means there a many new bosses out there, most of them dealing with a different part of the Internal Revenue Service for the first time. As business owners, they potentially face new types of taxes. Exactly which taxes depend largely on how their new company is established. That's why selection of a business entity is a major tax decision. Business entity options: As part of 2021's National Small Business Week, sponsored annually by the... Read more →

via GIPHY On a visceral financial level, we all hate paying taxes. But what we hate almost as much is that the tax laws often seem overly complicated or just plain goofy. Take estimated taxes. These are four extra payments that the Internal Revenue Service and many states require taxpayers to make to cover the taxes due on earnings that aren't subject to paycheck tax withholding. Straightforward enough, right? Until it comes to payment deadlines. Even though there are, in most cases, four of them and they're called quarterly estimated tax payments, the IRS uses a calendar that's a bit... Read more →

A distinctive signature has long been a mark of individuality. Take a look at former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew's original loops or Donald J. Trump's spikes. But with cursive handwriting being dropped from many schools' curricula, the chance of seeing someone's John Hancock rival, well, U.S. Declaration of Independence signer John Hancock's historic mark are vanishing. And the IRS is helping erase handwritten signatures by allowing more forms to be electronically signed. One non-medical COVID-19 side-effect will have a long-lasting side effect on everyone. More electronic transactions in our every-day lives. That includes our tax lives. About this time last... Read more →

What's the result when the worst things happen? Too often, it's terrible people taking advantage of good people. This occurs with alarming regularity in the tax world following tragedies and disasters. Con artists use horrible events to convince compassionate individuals to donate to groups that will help out the victims. What really happens all too often is the caring donors become victims, too. Fake charities are just one type of scam in today's third installment of the IRS' Dirty Dozen for 2021. This category of tax ruses in which dishonest people trick others into doing something illegal often includes fraudulent... Read more →

If a new piece of legislation is enacted, these two youngsters might bring their classroom enthusiasm to the accounting profession. Tax professionals have been unsung heroes for the last two tax filing seasons. They've dealt with complicated and often last-minute tax law changes created to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic's economic problems. Not only did they have to decipher and apply the changes, tax pros had to explain them to their clients and, in many cases, hand hold taxpayers through the process more than usual. Plus, this all happened as tax deadlines were upended by the coronavirus and multiple major... Read more →

Crayons aren't just for kids any more. Adult coloring books abound, including one created just for accountants. With Tax Day 2017 just days away, perhaps no one is feeling the pressure more than tax professionals. Tax preparers, for the second consecutive filing season, are dealing not only with the regular rush of taxes, but also with new COVID-19 pandemic prompted laws. Multiply that by how many clients they have, add what's happening in their (and their clients') lives, and the solution equals, among other things, stress that's off the charts. Helpful timeouts: While it might seem counter intuitive to those... Read more →