March 17, 2015
The sheer volume of paperwork generated during a sale of a principal residence can be intimating. Much of the vital information is summarized on Form HUD-1, but the resulting tax consequences may still leave both buyers and sellers scratching their ...
March 17, 2015
The Internal Revenue Service and Free File Inc., also known as the Free File Alliance,have made a five year agreement to provide free, federal tax preparation software products for 70 percent of all taxpayers.
March 16, 2015
Sloppy record keeping is costing many of the smallest small businesses and individuals a lot of money when it comes to their taxes. How much? It's in the billions.
March 14, 2015
Reports are popping up around the country that unlicensed and crooked income tax preparers are telling taxpayers that they need to make the Affordable Health Care Act's individual shared responsibility payments directly to the tax preparer. Obamacare is..
March 13, 2015
It’s the middle of income tax season and the last thing on most practitioners’ minds is how to engage even more with even more clients. Not that you don’t want to. But with the usual chaos surrounding this the busy season, plus the added stress of new laws, courtesy of the Affordable Care Act, time...…
March 10, 2015
The Internal Revenue Service says it is seeking civic-minded volunteers to serve on the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP), a federal advisory committee that listens to taxpayers, identifies major taxpayer concerns and makes recommendations for improving IRS s
March 10, 2015
As a long-time tax practitioner, I’ve conducted thousands of client interviews over the years. I’ve learned that when a client comes prepared for their interview, it results in less need for post-meeting follow-up calls and document gathering, which ...
March 8, 2015
Accountants are eligible for the promotion, and they can select as many as five of their small-business clients with fewer than 50 employees to also participate free of charge through the end of April. ADP’s HR HelpDesk is staffed by HR ...
March 8, 2015
Sometimes the “easiest” tax return decisions aren’t so simple after all. Take the basic choice of your tax filing status. Usually, it’s a no-brainer for a married couple to file a joint return, but there are a few notable exceptions. When you dig a ...
March 5, 2015
It’s rare when tax return preparers advise their clients to look a gift horse in the mouth. But it might happen when a taxpayer is affected by the limits for deducting investment interest expenses. Depending on the situation, it may make sense to elect preferential tax treatment for certain long-term capital gains or qualified dividends...…
March 5, 2015
The IRS compiles annually The Dirty Dozen, listing a variety of common scams taxpayers may encounter any time during the year. Many of these con games peak during filing season as people prepare their tax returns or hire someone to do so. Some of the more
March 4, 2015
With a little work and some stick-to-it-iveness, you might be able to save a client hundreds or even thousands of tax dollars on a 2014 return.