by Leif Jensen | Jan 7, 2019 | General |
The basics framework for financial compliance is a company’s recordkeeping or bookkeeping. Over my career I have been fascinated and surprised by how this is accomplished or not by some companies. We work with a multitude of different clients in a number of...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 19, 2018 | General |
Under the recent tax reform law the ability to deduct hobby expenses on Schedule A have been eliminated. But the necessity of reporting Hobby Income is still required. A client was sharing that someone they knew was selling product on Etsy and Craigslist(?) and was...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 18, 2018 | General |
While the IRS has streamlined the approval process for a Form 1023-EZ the forms need to be filled out with the intent of compliance. Some small groups that filed Form 1023-EZ are getting additional IRS scrutiny. To file Form 1023-EX the charities have to meet the...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 17, 2018 | General |
Surprise the IRS has broad discretion to allocate partial payments of back taxes. It can do so to its own advantage versus your, unless you state how to apply the payments. In a recent tax court case a couple who owed multiple years of income taxes hand-delivered a...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 12, 2018 | General |
I have a client who is older and not happy with their current employer. They initially thought that this was where they would spend their final working years. But alas it would appear that this will not be the case. As part of a protected class, the employer is not...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 11, 2018 | General |
Succession planning for a business seems to be a major issue at the moment. I am working with five that are either in the process or have it as an issue to address in the foreseeable future. All five businesses have at least one adult children working in the...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 10, 2018 | Uncategorized |
After a recent tax court ruling a former country music artist is unhappy over the hobby loss rules after an appeals court disallowed her Schedule C losses from a music venue she owns. Among the factors that helped the court conclude she did not intend to turn a...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 5, 2018 | General |
Annual reports those little pieces of joy that are sent from the Secretary of State’s office every year. This past year we seemed to have dealt with client’s whose “Registered Agent” either themselves or another party, neglected to file the reports and have fallen...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 4, 2018 | General |
I was reading the WSJ online and saw another article that looked interesting so I went down the rabbit hole. I eventually stumbled into someone’s blog. This blog had some interesting points on brand marketing. Their idea was to leverage today’s marketing...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 3, 2018 | General |
A court win for an S firm owner whose tax reporting did not match the K-1 he got from the company. S corporation shareholders must report income and loss items on their 1040 consistent with what’s shown on the K-1 or attach a statement to the return identifying any...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 28, 2018 | General |
Business owners you retain responsibility to ensure that your employment taxes are actually paid. Unfortunately you cannot just rely on the word of an employee or accountant that they have been paid and you are done. Take this case in which the IRS slapped penalties...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 27, 2018 | General |
Something the Lottery does not mention much, if you win the lottery; expect Uncle to withhold a sizable amount of tax from your jackpot just too wet its beak. The current federal income tax withholding rate is 24%. Then there is the state. Illinois will want their...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 26, 2018 | General |
I was having a conversation with another attorney who was incorporating a client that was taking the stance that an LLC is better than an S-Corporation. The reduced organization fee and annual report fee do make it more comparable in price. Also once organized an LLC...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 20, 2018 | General |
A past client recently called wanting me to meet their spouse and do some year-end planning. The spouse works for their parents in their business and owns 10% of the business. But this is the parents show. They make all the business decisions and decide how all the...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 19, 2018 | General |
Workers have been deemed to be in short supply now. The concern is now how can employers adapt as more people are approaching retirement age and eyeing the exits? The recommendation is to act sooner rather than later. Start by talking to older workers. Ask them when...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 14, 2018 | General |
The IRS’s foreign account reporting rules survived the latest legal challenge. In 2015, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and several other individuals filed a lawsuit alleging that both the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the reporting mandate that it imposed on U.S....
by Leif Jensen | Nov 13, 2018 | General |
I have peers that in their desire to be more efficient have streamlined their processes so much that there is no longer any contact with the client on a face to face basis. All of it is electronically done. The clients have either granted access to their data or...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 12, 2018 | General |
5G is very fast; apparently 100 times faster than 4G, and 10 times faster than our average broadband connection. This should enable the next wave of technological and societal advancements that destined to transform our economy: Autonomous vehicles, smart factories...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 7, 2018 | General |
Because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), it is believed that more taxpayers will be embolden up to 90% of taxpayers, by some estimates—to prepare their own tax returns for 2018. With the simplification of the Form 1040, it is believed that more people will use the...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 6, 2018 | General |
With less than two months of the year remaining, now is the time to look towards the year end for tax issues and year end planning. First businesses should be making sure that they have valid up to date W-9’s for all of the Independent Contractors that they utilize. ...
