I received an interesting call today from a small business employer who was reported to the IRS by a disgruntled past worker who claimed that he was paid as an independent contractor (and received IRS Form 1099) when in actuality he believed himself to be...
We all know there are good and bad people everywhere, both inside the IRS and in the tax practitioner community alike. Routinely readers of this blog report specific and egregious allegations of tax practitioner misconduct in violation of United States Treasury Department Circular 230. It...
I was at the IRS Practitioner Liaison Meeting yesterday morning in downtown Denver where local IRS officials in positions of authority presented operational updates. In regards to medical marijuana dispensaries Matthew Houtsma, acting Associate Area Council spoke. I found his words intriguingly worth a blog...
Should A Husband & Wife Form an LLC to Invest In Real Estate? Literally the $1,000,000 question. A husband and wife formed a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) that invests in rental real estate to protect themselves in event of a lawsuit. They want to know if...
Now is a GREAT TIME OF YEAR TO MAKE A CHARITABLE DONATION if you are so fortunate. When you make a donation to a charity you may be able to take a deduction for it on your tax return as long as you secure the...
Lately I've been getting deluged with cases involving blatant US Treasury Circular 230 violators of regulations governing practice before the Internal Revenue Service. The perpetrators it seems come from all walks of life, some are unregulated tax return preparers while others carry multiple licenses, designations...
The IRS has released Form 8940, Request for Miscellaneous Determination that tax-exempt organizations will use to request certain determinations about their tax-exempt status. In addition to foundation status issues, organizations will use this new form to obtain advance approval of certain activities and exemption from IRS Form 990 filing requirements. ...
There are several options available through the IRS to resolve delinquent tax obligations and/or request relief. One of the many reasons you need to be careful when engaging the IRS in these regards is because many of the programs including offer in compromise, collection due...
Generally severance payments made to terminated employees have been held by the US Tax Court to be FICA wages because the definition of "wages" for FICA purposes found in the Internal Revenue Code is so broad. "Wages" include all remuneration or money paid for employment...
I received a very interesting question from my last post on mortgage interest concerning allocation for tax deduction purposes. This post is a summary of research conducted in these regards on the National Association of Enrolled Agents web site. For example sake generally speaking if you have a...