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Charitable Deduction Rules – No Excuses – Acknowledgements
There is a story I heard even before I started doing tax work when I was a hotel night auditor. It was about a guy named Joe who ran a luncheonette where he also sold newspapers and candy bars and the like. Joe’s Place was across the street from Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility, a Catholic parish. Joe would see Father Mulcahey carrying a heavy bag every Monday morning. The good father was heading to the bank with the Sunday collection. One day Joe invited him in for a cup of coffee and proposed a win/win. Joe was always running out of change on Sundays. So how about if Father Mulcahey has the ushers count the coins and bring them over, Joe would write a check for the coins, and the father will just have Joe’s check to bring to the bank on Monday? Then, Joe would deduct the check written to the church as a charitable deduction. It was a great plan and it worked well for several years until the IRS audited Joe and a skeptical IRS agent called on Father Mulcahey about Joe apparently being Our Lady’s biggest donor. After all, he had the canceled checks. So if a canceled check to church on Sunday won’t work to document your charitable deduction, what will? Keep reading to find out!
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CURRENT EDITION
Remember, Influencers, the IRS Follows You Too!
The influencer marketing industry was able to grow during Covid as many advertisers had to adjust or cancel their marketing campaigns. This was because more people were sitting at home consuming content on social media. This new opportunity for smaller influencers has created a new group of taxpayers who need to know their new filing obligations. They’ll also be open to tax planning strategies that you have to help them reduce their tax liability.
Hobby Loss Regulations And Loper Bright
For me, the most exciting Tax Court opinion of 2025 was Judge Joseph Goeke’s supplement to his 2024 opinion in the case of Gary M. Schwarz. With a $1,851,878 tax deficiency, it is the largest hobby loss opinion since 2019. (The really big dollar cases tend to settle.)
Consult, Don’t Convince: Turning Discovery Calls into Advisory Opportunities
The most successful accountants aren’t the ones who pitch the hardest, they’re the ones who listen the most. When you ask better questions, you can diagnose problems that clients didn’t even know they had, which then helps us clarify outcomes instead of listing services. When we shift from “convincing” to “consulting,” discovery calls stop being “sales” conversations and start becoming advisory conversations. And advisory conversations naturally lead to advisory engagements.
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Think Outside the Tax Box provides tax reduction strategies along with practical
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