When I started my business, referrals and testimonials were not on my mind. Like most entrepreneurs, my crucial motivator was to have freedom of time for my family, to expand my skill set, and to remove the cap on my earnings potential. When I got my first client as a side hustle, my referral source was a board member who knew my skills very well and recommended me to the non-profit he served as treasurer. In December 2018, a prospect asked me for referrals, and I had no idea what to say. There was only a little besides my resume and employer as a reference. Then I thought, hey, I have my non-profit client, and I asked my client whether they would speak with this prospect and answer any questions they had, and they agreed. That’s when I realized the power of referrals and testimonials.

Considering how soon Halloween comes after October 15, the extended due date for individual returns, having a tax horror story seems really appropriate. The horror story came out on October 24, with the Eleventh Circuit decision in the case of Lee v U.S. Dr. Wayne Lee seemed to have done everything right to be in compliance. His estimates overpaid his taxes every year, and he would let the refund ride into the next year. He hired a CPA to prepare his returns and dutifully signed and sent the CPA Form 8879 IRS e-file Signature Authorization. He did this for his 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 returns. Then disaster struck.

The last month of 2023 featured more technical expositions than policy discussion. Practitioners will find insights worth their time. Generalists shouldn't overlook some nuggets here. As always, Tax Court sees and deals with more varieties of income taxation than any other court.

Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the federal government is giving out tens of billions of dollars in tax credits to incentivize taxpayers to purchase electric vehicles. As with any government program, claiming the benefits can be complicated. Since Congress used tax credits to deliver the program, and the personal tax credits are income-limited, tax planning can help a taxpayer who would otherwise not qualify for these benefits. This article will briefly overview the two personal electric vehicle tax credits, followed by several tax planning strategies to unlock these credits for taxpayers who may not otherwise qualify.

Regulatory tsunamis come in batches. By now, for example, most of you have heard about the tax-reporting requirement slated to kick in next year, where the IRS would've learned about the income of individual taxpayers who made just $600 on the likes of eBay. That sounded like a looming nightmare -- until the IRS suddenly put it off a year two days before Thanksgiving. (Sometimes removing tax regulations without warning creates as much confusion as adding them.) Small businesses aren’t off the regulatory hook that easily for 2024. Come January 1, a new ownership-reporting requirement begins for millions of American companies. Now’s the time to prepare yourself and your company.

Joseph Michael Balint had some really hard luck. He was in prison in Florida from December 17, 2013, through January 6, 2015. Fearful of forfeiting assets, he transferred everything to his wife, Jacqueline, and gave her power of attorney early in his prison term. What he had not planned on was her emptying the retirement accounts and leaving him with the tax tab. His luck turned a bit in Tax Court, as we shall see.

Despite the five days off for the two Federal holidays this month, there's plenty from Tax Court, for both specialists and general practitioners. No other Court gets as deep into the "wrinkled skin" of US tax law. As always, there's something for (almost) everyone.

The S corporation is a powerful tool for small business owners to manage their business efficiently and reduce payroll taxes on owner’s profits. The primary benefit small business owners get, when organized as an S corporation, is the opportunity to avoid payroll taxes on distributions after paying reasonable compensation. A reasonable wage/salary is a must for shareholder-employee/s. However, the shareholder-employee soon discovers that the lower her wage is, the lower the payroll taxes. Why not pay no wage? Or only a token wage? Of course, the IRS knows those tricks and requires the company to pay “reasonable compensation” to shareholder-employees so they’ll submit proper payroll taxes. The IRS can adjust wages to reflect reasonable compensation. Family members of the shareholder must also receive reasonable compensation for services rendered. In this article we will begin by debunking urban legends surrounding S corporation reasonable compensation followed by calculating a reasonable compensation package before finishing with a strategy.