by Leif Jensen | Mar 13, 2018 | General |
Retaining too much control over a company costs an inventor a tax benefit. The Royalties he got from patent transfers do not qualify for capital gains treatment. Inventors who sell to an unrelated person their entire interest in a patent they created before commercial...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 12, 2018 | General |
The $10,000 cap on deducting state and local taxes is causing chaos. In an attempt to beat the deduction crackdown coming in 2018, many homeowners rushed out January to prepay 2018 property tax liabilities, in the belief they could deduct them on 2017 returns,...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 7, 2018 | General |
Do you need or want to apply for or renew a passport? Then you need to make sure that your taxes are paid up and current. The State Department can deny and has revoked U.S. passports of individuals with federal tax debts in excess of $51,000 and on whom...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 6, 2018 | General |
Surprise the Service’s private debt-collection program is off to a shaky start. A 2015 law called for the agency to turn over many inactive tax receivables to private debt collectors in an effort to recoup overdue taxes owed by taxpayers. The IRS began...
by Leif Jensen | Mar 5, 2018 | General |
Surprise, charity insiders who use funds for personal use can draw a huge tax penalty. The founder and chief executive officer of a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization used money in the group’s checking account to pay for a host of personal expenses (i.e....
by Leif Jensen | Feb 28, 2018 | General |
Making infrequent sales of real estate costs a taxpayer an ordinary loss. The seller, who was a real estate pro, first sought to develop land he owned. But after the development activities stalled and did not progress beyond the planning stage, he had put the land in...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 27, 2018 | General |
Surprise two tax payer find that taking your C Corporation’s losses on your individual return is a no-no. Two brothers who were the sole shareholders in a regular C Corporation which operated a cattle business deducted the firm’s losses on their 1040 returns. The...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 26, 2018 | General |
Individuals can e-file their federal returns at no cost, no matter their income, directly with the IRS. The Service has two options. If your 2017 adjusted gross income was $66,000 or less, you can prepare and e-file your return with no charge by going to...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 21, 2018 | General |
I have a few clients with banking issues… One client’s bank is holding cash for 48 hours regardless of where the money is coming from, even another account at the bank. Think about it, you move money from one account to another on the banks website and can’t touch...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 20, 2018 | General |
Years ago you incorporated your business. Did you get the binder package for your corporate books and records? Hopefully your answer is yes and that you have been having your at least annual meetings and maintaining your books and records (B&R). But If I had to...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 19, 2018 | General |
As a licensed CPA, I am required to obtain 120 hours of Continuing Professional Education (CPE). Four of those hours also have to be in ethics. Beyond the ethics, the CPE can be on almost any topic. The ICPAS had a program before their Accounting and Finance Show...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 14, 2018 | General |
In today’s world you need to be able to control your domain. I know that there are those who believe that a Facebook page is more important to your business than a domain. I personally disagree with that. A Facebook page defiantly has its place in your marketing,...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 13, 2018 | General |
I have a couple of clients who decided to design and build their own website. Now they are not the typical creative type. But the results are interesting. They both used website template was provided by their hosting company. They dropped in the images and text....
by Leif Jensen | Feb 12, 2018 | General |
Occasionally I will get a rogue e-mail from the spouse of a client. I am usually taken aback by this. Since most if not all communication typically comes from the client running the business. Now, I have suggested that potential client not move forward with their...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 7, 2018 | General |
As many of you are well aware several restaurant chains have Ziosk devices on their tables. I have to say I am not a fan. I don’t want to play a game if I am with someone. I like to have wait staff employed at restaurants and places I frequent. Also, most of the...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 6, 2018 | General |
We have a client that came to us with a problem. They had done their own taxes for 2014 and 2015. They were Turbo-Tax users. In 2014 they had made an extraordinary contribution to their church, but because of their use of Turbo-tax, the software defaulted to the...
by Leif Jensen | Feb 5, 2018 | General |
My wife and I were thinking of seeing the movie “Darkest Hour” but it was not playing at an AMC theater. We are surrounded by AMC theaters only (Niles, Mt Prospect, Rosemont, and Schaumburg). Never mind that I resent coughing up money to China to see a US film; but...
by Leif Jensen | Jan 31, 2018 | General |
Is it true that the biggest reason for wealth inequality in the U.S. is that many Americans are uninformed about investing? Granted research has shown that the pre-tax income for the bottom 50% of earners in the U.S. has dropped since the 1980’s. And a full 36% of...
by Leif Jensen | Jan 30, 2018 | General |
You always need to be sure whom you do business with as the details of this court case show. Of you have partners have an operating agreement even in an S-Corp. A locked-out shareholder has to report her share of S corporation income on here individual return. A...
by Leif Jensen | Jan 29, 2018 | General |
If you have a side business, there are things you should be doing to ensure that the business is not a hobby. A ranching operation that lost millions is not a hobby, according to the Tax Court. A man who ran the venture in addition to his day job as an economist is...
