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Around the tax world
At Around the Tax World, you can find out all about what’s going on in the wonderful, worldwide world of tax. Every month, we’ll feature a few mini-articles on what’s been going on in the world when it comes to tax, and fully available for viewing even if you don’t have a subscription. If you …
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READ MOREAround the tax world
Check out what’s happening all around the world of tax! World News US NEWS STATE NEWS TAX PLANNING WORLD NEWS Pop singer Shakira could face up to eight years in prison for tax fraud as questions about her Spanish residency have been brought before the courts. The Spanish government claims that the singer owes as much as
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CURRENT EDITION
How to Avoid Losing Valuable Noncash Charitable Contributions
The rules for noncash charitable contributions defy easy summary. On the other hand, they are not rocket surgery. Moving on from the humor, if you want to sum them up in a sentence you can use Reilly’s Seventh Law of Tax Planning: Read the instructions. Specifically, you want to read the instructions to Form 8283 Noncash Charitable Contributions.
There is, of course, more to it than that, but you will find a remarkable number of disallowed deductions from not following those instructions. To be fair, sometimes there are other shenanigans going on and the instruction failures are the easiest way for the IRS to attack. Nonetheless, there is nothing to say that the IRS will not use the precedents set in those cases on your client even though they are not trying to get away with anything.
To get a simplified list of what to know and implement, continue reading.
Should Your Practice Use a Client Portal?
You may know me as the “crypto guy” here at Think Outside the Tax Box. It might seem like that’s all I ever write about. But this time, I’m sneaking an article in while my editor is on vacation. Because I want to talk about using a client portal and why all tax professionals should be using one in their firms. Some firms may have dipped their toe into the digital waters out of necessity as a by-product of the pandemic. Others may have started the process long before Covid existed.
According to a completely unscientific poll I ran on Twitter, 70 percent of firms are still processing returns at least partially on paper. This can mean either receiving paper documents from a client or delivering a hard copy of the completed return to the client. As the numbers from a Twitter survey are clearly biased toward firms already comfortable with digital technology, we can safely assume more accurate numbers are significantly higher. Since TOTTB refuses to provide me with a budget to run a full, comprehensive study, we’ll just have to run with my perfunctory data as well as published data from a poll Canopy conducted in 2021.
Canopy surveyed more than a thousand small businesses and found that 63 percent admitted that their accountant did not offer any portal. More surprising, depending on whom you ask, is that more than two-thirds of respondents said they would be interested in switching to an accountant that allows them to use photos of their documents for easy sharing.
While I’m not here to debate the issues of opening a gajillion .jpg files and how that might negatively affect my practice, the impact of using technology can improve your efficiencies, communications, and improve your workflow.
To learn how, continue reading.
The Tax Lives of Performing Artists
Performing artists are everywhere. Whether you’re a fan or indifferent, they’re tough to ignore. They color our world with print, broadcast, and social media coverage. We have actors, musicians, newscasters, and podcasters performing live, streaming online, captured on film/radio/television, and just about everywhere in an expanding online universe.
We celebrate their triumphs, empathize with their trials, feel shocked at their gaffes, and grieve for and with them. We may not think we have much in common with performers, but we do have one commonality: We’re all taxpayers!
A performer’s life may seem glamorous, but it’s hard work and not always financially predictable. The tax lives of performers are complicated. They have income and expenses, but with many twists and peculiarities.
Twists and peculiarities can make it both interesting and complex when navigating the Tax Code, but performing artists need tax reduction, too. Tony Nitti said, “It has to suck to make your living as an artist.” But paying taxes as an artist doesn’t have to suck when you have a great tax plan.
To read more about the unique tax planning opportunities available to performing artists, continue reading.