The Future

2014 was a trying year for a number of client’s families.  Family members had passed, but luckily they seemed to have prepared well and had plans in place.  I am finding that this is not always the case with some younger clients or some of the older clients. As usual...

Get out of the way.

I was at a family party and a show was on the TV that I had never seen before.  It was about “expert consultants” coming in and fixing bars. This lead to a discussion, about how some business owners are their own worst enemy.  I explained that I have clients who...

Assessor’s office

Earlier this week I ranted about the loss of information from Joe Berrios’s Cook County Assessor’s website.  Last week they had removed the ability to search for a Property Tax PIN number by address.  All searches needed to have a PIN.  Not a great thing when you are...

New area of exposure

It seems that t IRS is planning on focusing on real estate foreclosures, discharged debts and short sales. The IRS has issued a new audit guide that instructs agents on tax issues to look for. They will be verifying whether the taxpayer have gains from a waived debt...

Difficult Tax Season

This is turning into a surprisingly difficult tax season. It does not seem to matter whether it is a new client or a client with whom we have worked for a decade. We have experienced incorrect basis on 1099-B’s.  We have had a 1099-R that did not include nor record a...

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