by Leif Jensen | May 17, 2017 | General |
I have a client experiencing difficulties with their bank. Their relationship to their bank was testy at times, but then the bank was absorbed by another and things just went from bad to worse. The bank now insists on a 48 hour hold on all deposits, even if...
by Leif Jensen | May 16, 2017 | General |
S corporation owners who guarantee the firm’s loans don’t get a tax break: Guarantees don’t boost their tax basis in the firm. S company shareholders can deduct their share of corporate losses only up to their investment in the company, including advances made...
by Leif Jensen | May 15, 2017 | General |
The IRS had to pay a penalty for disclosing a couple’s tax information. In spite of minimal damages the Service needed pay only $1,000 to each of them. After the IRS audited the couple, an employee unintentionally mailed pages of the report detailing the...
by Leif Jensen | May 10, 2017 | General |
S corporation shareholders may soon be getting a form to assist in figuring their tax basis. Owners of S corporations can deduct losses only up to their stock basis and loans they make to the firm. But the IRS knows that taxpayer compliance in this area is...
by Leif Jensen | May 9, 2017 | General |
I have a client who had an employee leave because they thought the office was too distracting. This is a creative company who has movies or music playing constantly in the background. While apparently finding this too distracting the employee apparently ignored this...
by Leif Jensen | May 8, 2017 | General |
This year we were hired to prepare the final return for an investment club. Once hired for the investment club return, we were asked by a couple members to prepare their individual returns, we offered to do any members personal return for our minimum fee. There were...
by Leif Jensen | May 3, 2017 | General |
In 2014 when Oculus VR was sold to Facebook for $2 billion, some asked: What if the people who backed the virtual-reality startup two years earlier on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter had received shares instead of T-shirts or VR headsets? The answer to the question...
by Leif Jensen | May 2, 2017 | General |
“The Fed has long known most of the $100 bills aren’t in America. It doesn’t take great insight to realize they are being used to finance illicit activities,” Alan Blinder, Princeton University economist and a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, said in an...
by Leif Jensen | May 1, 2017 | General |
It has been deemed that IRS agents cannot proceed with a levy that creates economic hardship. But this rule does not apply to levies against corporations, according to the the Tax Court. After a corporation that ran a nursing home did not pay its quarterly...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 26, 2017 | General |
A firm that runs a limousine transportation business recently received bad news from IRS. It found out that it was liable for payroll taxes that were not paid by an employee leasing company. The taxpayer leased its workforce from the leasing company and...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 25, 2017 | General |
With the new boxes on Form 1098, the IRS is collecting more data on home mortgage interest. Lenders must now report the amount of principal outstanding at the start of the year, the mortgage origination date and the address of the property securing the loan....
by Leif Jensen | Apr 24, 2017 | General |
I was having a discussion with one of my kids and somehow we got onto the topic of taxes. Since this was in the middle of tax season I don’t think I brought it up. It may have stemmed from a news story on the radio. But my some was taking the stance that the...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 12, 2017 | General |
Costco’s returns have been weaker lately, so they are increasing their membership fee to compensate. The analysts are ecstatic; they love Costco more than Sam’s Club. I have a client that raves about the superiority of Costco verses Sam’s while only having a...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 11, 2017 | General |
Last week one of my client’s bank statements came into our office. They use our office as their address of record for their home based business. But what was startling was that the First Merit Bank statement came in as Huntington Bank. So the consolidation of...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 10, 2017 | General |
When was the last time you reviewed your portfolio holding? Unless you own individual stocks have you read the prospectus to see what you holding actually contains? So what does your portfolio hold? Is it a derivatives portfolio of is it a Buffet portfolio?...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 5, 2017 | General |
No or low money down mortgages, no it’s not 2006. But it is looking that way through certain prisms. It looks like there are a few programs from the government that have no money down mortgages. FHA, VA, and USDA have programs that allow new or repeat home...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 4, 2017 | General |
The futurists predicted that ATM cards will soon be a thing of the past, and they were correct. Banks and ATM service providers are racing to deploy new technology machines that will offer bank customers cardless access to their cash. JPMorgan Chase has...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 3, 2017 | General |
Are you paying alimony? Make sure to verify the language in your divorce agreement. The instrument cannot say the amount is nondeductible. Two taxpayers who were required to make payments to ex-spouses learned this lesson the hard way. The IRS reversed...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 2, 2017 | General |
With the new boxes on Form 1098, the IRS is collecting more data on home mortgage interest. Lenders must now report the amount of principal outstanding at the start of the year, the mortgage origination date and the address of the property securing the loan....
by Leif Jensen | Mar 29, 2017 | General |
It was determined in a recent court case that the IRS cannot collect back payroll taxes from a business owner’s father, at least in this case. The father, who informally helped out at a restaurant that was owned by his son, took it upon himself to sign four...
