by Leif Jensen | Nov 15, 2023 | Taxes |
The Federal Income Tax from 1861 was repealed in 1872, the bills of the Civil War were paid. Alas, there were puritanicals that wanted to enforce their will and beliefs on others. They had disdain for those cultures that drank beer or wine, and hated those who...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 13, 2023 | Taxes |
At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor. Less than 34 hours later, Union forces surrendered. Thus, the Civil War began. So did the financial requirements to fund the Civil War. This prompted...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 8, 2023 | Rant |
When meeting with clients who have unexpected tax liabilities, usually tied to events they were not monitoring as well as they could, interest, dividends capital gains on brokerage accounts where the brokers have discretion on trading. At time it helps to show them...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 6, 2023 | Tax Court |
A tax-saving rent scheme backfires on the three owners of an S corporation. Each man owned one-third of a firm that operated fitness center franchises. The S corp didn’t have a central office, but instead paid rent to each shareholder for use of their personal...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 1, 2023 | Tax Court |
A canceled debt of a single-member LLC is taxable COD income to its owner. A man wholly ,owned an LLC that was disregarded for federal tax purposes. The LLC borrowed money from a bank but didn’t repay it. Eight years later, the bank sent Form 1099-C to the LLC,...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 31, 2023 | Rant |
Looking into the history of Halloween, it figures that it stems from my people and their superstitious beliefs. Yes, I believe that my Irish relatives still believe in most of the ancient superstitions. Weddings and funerals have people making strange gestures and...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 26, 2023 | Taxes |
The IRS has issued guidance on staking rewards in July. When one stakes crypto native to a proof-of-stake blockchain and receives additional crypto units or tokens as validation rewards, the fair market value of those token awards is gross income in the year the...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 23, 2023 | Tax Court |
The courts do not determine when and how to tax staking rewards. Bad news for a man who was asking a court to rule on the taxation of staking rewards. A court tosses his case. He filed a refund claim alleging that token rewards he got from staking cryptocurrency are...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 18, 2023 | Retirement |
Each year when talking about tax planning for the next year, I get a lot of frustration from some clients, they are reaching 72 and they don’t need or want to start taking their RMD’s. Well, I finally have some good news for them, granted it’s not great news but good...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 16, 2023 | Retirement |
Finally, some changes are coming to SIMPLE IRAs, starting in 2024. This change is thanks to SECURE 2.0. The dollar limits on annual employee contributions and catch-ups to SIMPLE IRAs will rise 10% for employers with 25 or fewer workers. A firm with 26 to 100...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 11, 2023 | General |
My guess is that you use a single bank for checking and savings, maybe even your credit card. While this may be a way of simplifying your life, it also ties you to the whims of that bank. Suchas their hours and levels of customer service. Granted with my businesses...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 10, 2023 | Money Management |
Where to you have you emergency and your whoopie reserves? Are they in ordinary savings or worse checking accounts? For years it did not matter where you kept your cash, there were no vehicles that paid 1% or above in APR. Now, in the Biden run-up of the interest...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 4, 2023 | Taxes |
With the wild run up of property values, I have had a rash of clients selling rental properties. The offers were just too good to refuse. When I go over the gain calculation they are startled. They are thinking I sold for $500,000, I paid $200,000 I pay tax on only...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 2, 2023 | Running a Business |
If you don’t collect new W-9 from vendor’s regularly, you should start collecting them now. A W-9 has all the relevant information to determine if you need to or not issue a 1099-M or 1099-Nec to your vendor. The IRS requires businesses to report payment of...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 27, 2023 | Rant |
I was re-watching the “Titans Who Built America” and in the episode there was a competition as to whom was going to build the world’s tallest building, Charles Chrysler or Pierre DuPont. DuPont won with the Empire State Building, Chrysler lost with e Chrysler...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 25, 2023 | Money Management |
I was listening to the radio and an investment specialist was talking about savings. I know it sounds very surprising. Actually, this one made some interesting points. If you have already established your cash reserves (3 to 6 months of cash needs in case of an...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 13, 2023 | Retirement |
Thinking of starting up a SIMPLE for 2023? If so time is running out for existing firms to set the plan for 2023. You have a deadline of Oct. 2. Otherwise, contributions can’t be made for 2023. SIMPLEs are plans for small firms; those with 100 or fewer employees in...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 11, 2023 | Taxes |
Surprise a tax that starts to effect those who thought it was a good idea to tax the rich, it turns out they are the rich, themselves. More people each year pay the 3.8% surtax on net investment income. This tax, which was enacted as part of Obamacare, applies to...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 6, 2023 | Tax Court |
The daughter convinced her parents that she needed funds for a fictitious legal battle. Being “good parents” and wanting to help her out, the couple withdrew $1.1 million in IRA and pension funds in 2017 and turned the money over to the evil daughter. They were taxed...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 5, 2023 | Taxes |
The Service now addresses the taxation of crypto rewards received through staking. Some taxpayers have taken the position that token rewards they received through a proof-of-stake blockchain are created property that isn’t taxed on receipt, but instead, on...
