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Some of What You Need to Know to Do 1041 Right Because Nobody Knows Everything
There was a recent IRS memo from an associate chief counsel that should be shocking but actually isn’t. Promoters have for many years been hawking a “copyrighted non-grantor irrevocable complex discretionary spendthrift trust,” which purported to avoid capital gains tax. You could learn about it on TikTok. It “worked” by citing Section 643(a)(3), which excludes capital gains allocable to corpus from distributable net income. You and I both know that DNI is not taxable income, but not everybody who learns the tax law from TikTok has caught onto that subtle point yet. Although I have never encountered anything as egregious as the “copyrighted, etc, etc, trust” I have seen a lot of problems with trusts over the years (and partnerships and SALT – don’t get me started). Much of it has to do with working under a lot of pressure. Often, the things that are wrong end up not mattering all that much, but I get a little frightened, because maybe one of these days the IRS is going to start getting its act back together. If it does, I think things may be a little shocking to practitioners who have grown up in an environment where enforcement has been progressively gutted.
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CURRENT EDITION
The “Busy Season” Myth: Why Accountants Stay Stuck Waiting for Time That Never Comes
If you’re a CPA, you’ve heard it a thousand times. People outside the industry say it like it’s a weather report: “How was busy season?” Firm owners say it to each other, as if it’s a shared badge of honor: “Just get through April 15.” Then it becomes, “After extensions.” Then, “After we rehire.” And after every “busy season,” there’s the crash. The weeks of 60–70 hours. The nights. The lost family time. The feeling that life is on hold until the deadline passes. Here’s the problem: tax deadlines don’t end—they shift. March 15. April 15. September 15. October 15. Year-end planning. 1099s in January. Treating the calendar like the boss means building firms stuck in constant reaction. The truth is, “busy season” isn’t a season. It’s a mindset. And it’s one of the most expensive mindsets we’ve normalized in public accounting.
The Tips Deduction and the Self-Employed: Potholes Everywhere
By now, tax professionals and taxpayers are familiar with the fact that the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBBA) created a new tax deduction for tips received. What we want to look at in this article is — how do self-employed taxpayers handle this deduction?
The Succession Plan You Keep Meaning to Write
I have a friend who has been retiring “in about two years” for the last five years. He is 67, runs a successful practice with about 400 returns, and specializes in tax planning. He has never had the practice valued. He also has no succession plan in the event he does not come back from his next fishing trip. This is not unusual. This is typical. The 2020 American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) firm succession survey found that only 6% of solo and sole practitioners had a practice continuation agreement in place. Nearly half of those surveyed said they knew they needed one and had no idea how to start. That second figure is the one that gets me, because it is not denial. Our colleagues know exactly what is at stake and are stuck. Let us get unstuck.
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Think Outside the Tax Box provides tax reduction strategies along with practical
implementation advice in order to reduce your clients’ federal tax bill with ease.
