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TO REDUCE TAX?
New tax reduction strategies carefully explained and exhaustively researched every two weeks. Receive breaking news updates on tax law changes. Members only monthly AMA with TOTTB.tax.
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FEATURED CONTENT
Charlie Sheen Settles with IRS For $3.3 Million And A Possible Share in Future Earnings
Charlie Sheen’s tax woes seem to be at an end. I mainly remember Sheen as the star of Two and a Half Men, but there is a lot more to his career and fame than that. As I related back in January, IRS has been trying to collect on Mr. Sheen’s 2015, 2017 and 2018 returns. Many people have the impression that failure to send in the balance due with your return. will result in 87,000 agents willing to use deadly force knocking on your door, but it really doesn’t work that way. There is a lot of process. In some circles I think the return balance due is viewed as the sticker price on cars used to be or full tuition at a well-endowed university that wants to have a sprinkling of representation from the 99% attending…
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CURRENT EDITION
Help Your Clients Implement a Fortune 500 CFO Strategy
For decades, some of America’s largest corporations have used a financial strategy that gives their CFOs greater control over insurance costs, helps them finance risks the commercial market handles poorly and creates an opportunity to retain underwriting profit when losses come in below expectations. Approximately 90% of Fortune 500 companies have captive insurance subsidiaries.¹ Historically, the economics favored organizations with substantial capital, large insurance programs and the resources to support their own insurance operations. Small and midsize businesses rarely had the scale to justify the cost and complexity. That equation has changed. A mature network of specialized insurance professionals and structures now allows qualifying privately held businesses to pursue many of the same risk-financing advantages. Federal tax law can further improve the economics for certain smaller insurance companies. For CPAs and tax professionals, this creates an advisory opportunity. The challenge is recognizing which clients could benefit and what conditions must exist before recommending it.
Structured Installment Sales Making Comeback – How Good A Tool Is It?
Structured Installment Sales (SIS) have been making a comeback. Historically low interest rates starting in 2011 made them go out of favor. Starting in 2018, insurers started coming back into offering them. MetLife expanded its SIS solution to 49 states, Puerto Rico and D.C. in 2022. You need to know about SIS and it deserves a place in your toolbox. You might not be using it as often as the toolmakers imply. I took a look at SIS in 2023 and was a little more enthusiastic about it than I am now. Let’s dig in.
Assessment Statutes and Document Retention Best Practices
When it comes to document retention, my guiding policy is “If I don’t keep it, it can’t be stolen or subpoenaed.” That sounds cynical, but there’s truth in it. The smaller your data “surface area,” the less you have to manage in the event of a data breach (or, if you hold paper documents, in the event of a fire or break in). And, if a client or former client gets really sideways in divorce or criminal court, being able to say “I have a policy in place and I don’t keep records longer than three years” can provide you with a measure of peace. But what should your policy be? It depends, but relevant assessment statutes are a good place to start. This article reviews the IRS rules for assessing tax and provides some best practices for developing document retention policies for return preparation documents in your practice.
SIMPLIFIED TAX STRATEGIES &
PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION
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.
