by Leif Jensen | Sep 9, 2021 | Economy, General |
Bike prices shot up 10% to 15% last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic helped boost many homebound Americans’ appetite for outdoor recreation. Anything to get out of the house and not into a store to look for toilet paper. Industry watchers are expecting similar price...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 8, 2021 | Rant |
I have written in the past of my enjoyment of Terry O’Reilly’s podcasts “Under the Influence” and “Age of Persuasion”. One Under the Influence podcast dealt with the shape of the packaging where he quoted: “Fast Company Magazine cites University of Toronto research,...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 7, 2021 | Running a Business |
Shoddy recordkeeping costs a tax preparer a large chunk of money. She can’t deduct her vehicle expenses, even though she used her personal car in her business. She claimed she drove 34,560 miles for business during the year, and she took the standard mileage...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 1, 2021 | Expense reduction |
In the past I have worked with a client who ran up huge credit cards bills every year. They then used their dwindling federal refunds to pay off their credit card balances. I went on to explain that they were accruing 20%+ interest on their balances and the IRS was...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 31, 2021 | Running a Business |
I have a client where I deal with the manager and not the owner. It is my understanding that the manager will eventually take over as owner, but after a number of years it had not happened just yet. The PPP forgiveness was a problem. The owner applied for the loans...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 30, 2021 | Taxes |
While on hold with the IRS, have you wondered why it is so hard and taking so long to reach a live person at IRS by phone? One reason is the historic number of callers. During the 2021 filing season, the IRS received 85.1 million calls on its toll-free 1040 phone...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 25, 2021 | Taxes |
Are you one the unfortunates still waiting for your tax refund on your timely filed 2019 or 2020 return? You are not alone there are millions of others are in the same boat, not that this makes you feel any better. As of June 25, IRS had a backlog of 16.7 million 2019...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 24, 2021 | General |
You have been asked by one of your children to co-sign a note; either for a car, apartment or house. Where do you stand from a legal perspective? Ownership of property. Unfortunately, being a co-signer doesn’t give you rights to the property, car or other security...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 23, 2021 | Rant |
We the United States are failing by every measure in public education. According to one study; federal, state, and local governments spend $720.9 billion, or $14,840 per pupil, to fund K-12 public education. This gets the US to 26th in Total scores, looking at...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 18, 2021 | Taxes |
Are you considering making an offer to settle your federal tax debt at less than what you owe? There are two payment options: Lump sum cash, which requires 20% of the total offer amount to be paid up front, with the remaining balance to be paid in five or fewer...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 17, 2021 | Taxes |
With a red hot housing market in 2021, tons of people have been selling their homes. A reminder on calculating gain or loss from the sale of your primary home. You start with the amount of gross proceeds reported in box 2 of Form 1099-Sand subtract selling expenses...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 16, 2021 | Tax Court |
The general rule of thumb, is that the IRS can only go back three years. But, there are times when IRS can go back more than three years to seek taxes. If over 25% of gross income is omitted from a return, then IRS has six years to assess the tax, unless the filer...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 10, 2021 | Taxes |
The IRS sends out millions of letters every year, typically looking for more money. Many taxpayers try to assert a reasonable-cause defense to avoid a penalty and interest from those letters. In doing so, they have to prove their position was based on reasonable cause...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 9, 2021 | Investing, Taxes |
Long-term capital gains have favorable rates, over ordinary income. Profits from the sale or exchange of capital assets held over a year are generally taxed at 0%, 15% or 20%. There’s also the 3.8% surtax on net investment income of single filers with modified...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 4, 2021 | Taxes |
The fine for willfully failing to report foreign accounts are not capped, according to an appeals court decision. Under the statute, the penalty for willful failures is the greater of $100,000 or 50% of the highest balance in the overseas account. The IRS regulations...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 3, 2021 | Taxes |
IRS and the Justice Department continue to be on the prowl for undisclosed foreign accounts, devoting resources to get U.S. owners of the accounts to timely report them each year if the aggregate value exceeded $10,000 at any time during the prior year. Penalties for...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 2, 2021 | Running a Business |
Who thought this was a good idea? In this case they were treating its officers as contractors which was causing headaches for a corporation that owned and operated day care centers. The corporation didn’t pay any salary to a couple who were its sole shareholders and...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 28, 2021 | Retirement |
Let’s take a look at three important rules if contemplating an IRA rollover: First, the money must be returned within 60 days, or the distribution is taxed, assuming no direct rollover. It’s also hit with an early payout penalty for people under age 59½. The IRS...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 27, 2021 | Retirement |
If you made a qualified charitable distribution from my traditional IRA. Will the 2021 Form 1099-R that I get early next year reflect the QCD? No. People age 70½ and older can transfer up to $100,000 yearly from traditional IRAs directly to charity. These QCDs can...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 26, 2021 | Retirement |
If you inherited an IRA last year. When must you take distributions from it? You have 10 years from the death to clean out the account. This doesn’t mean payouts must be distributed evenly over a 10-year period. You can wait until the 10th year to take out all the...
