Guest Article

Cutting some clients loose is challenging yet vital. You can only hope for so long that a difficult client will improve before you have to make the decision that he or she simply isn’t worth it to your bottom line. Some clients also make it harder to service your good clients – if not risk your reputation and expose you to a malpractice claim. When you consider firing a client, you do have to trust your gut – but some objective measurements can point you to the right decision. Here are the signs of a bad (and potentially bad) client and formulas and tips to tell if you can do without their business.

What seemed to be a slow month turned out to have some intriguing developments, a new online petition generator for self-representeds, and new Judges joining the Tax Court bench (at long last).

The past month we've explored how side hustles can affect your client's taxes. You're now equipped to help them avoid most side hustle tax tussles, but there is one other major area of the gig economy that we must cover. That is when your clients decide to share their personal property for a fee. Don't confuse this concept of the share economy with your client renting out real estate, like we discussed in part 2. The IRS has a different definition for personal property, one that does not include real estate. Which, you guessed it, means there are different tax implications. To help you avoid tax tussles for your clients, we're going cover the following: ● What's the difference between personal property and real estate? ● Where do we report personal property rental income? ● What can we deduct from personal property rental income?

The rise of chatbots and AI assistants has blurred the lines between traditional search engines and conversational AI. Tools like ChatGPT and its latest iteration, GPT-4o, are reshaping how Certified Tax Planners (CTPs) search for tax information. A new and fragmented multi-search universe has emerged that offers CTPs a broader array of tools tailored to their specific needs for due diligence. Let's take a look at 10 new AI search tools that can maximize your efficiency today!

In today's digital age, where the competition among businesses is fiercer than ever, accountants are increasingly turning to local search engine optimization (SEO) to stand out in their communities. With many consumers relying on the internet to find local services, including accounting firms, harnessing the power of local SEO has become imperative for those looking to dominate their local market. In this article, I will explain the importance of local SEO for accountants and the difference between on-page and off-page SEO strategies to maximize visibility and attract clients within a targeted region.

The gig economy involves more than one-off and part-time jobs. It also includes when you share your property in exchange for money. This can be a residential property, a vacation home, or even a vehicle. The gig economy has connected those who need rides and places to stay with owners via online platforms. We refer to this part of the gig economy as the share economy. Accessing these accommodations is easy with the online platforms. But how the people participating should report their income isn't quite as straightforward. Last time we looked at how your clients should report gig income, just like any other income made as a sole proprietor. But making money from renting your property out is different, right? If you have clients with rental properties, you report their income on Schedule E (1040), Supplemental Income and Loss. We know from last time that we report gig economy income on Schedule C (1040), Profit or Loss from Business. So, how does rental income derived from the share economy get reported on a tax return? Every taxpayer's favorite answer, it depends.

A 2023 Tax Court decision upheld what many small business owners and tax practitioners have wondered about for some time. The court found that shareholders of an S corporation could exclude rental income paid to them by their S corporation for holding planning meetings in their homes. While the IRS and court found that the amounts charged by the shareholders were excessive, the court found the arrangement itself within the bounds of the law. This article examines this case and underlying law and when and how this is a planning idea worth pursuing, the limitations and unknowns involved, and the policy implications of this long standing exclusion. The case is Sinopoli, TC Memo 2023-105 involving the exclusion at IRC Section 280A(g).

What are clients, especially niche clients, generally looking for in an accounting firm? How do they look for an accounting firm? Those questions need answers if you’re to grow your firm as clients inevitably drop away and need to be replaced. Here’s a look at why and when clients might want a new accounting firm – or be thinking about moving on from yours – and niches you might want to investigate to replace these clients.