by Leif Jensen | May 12, 2012 | General |
It is interesting what Congress has been tossing around to be limited or out an out eliminated with the possibility of tax reform: mortgage interest, charitable contributions and state taxes. For the vast majority of my clients that basically leaves property taxes as...
by Leif Jensen | May 12, 2012 | General |
This tax season the IRS continues to be flooded with notifications from victims of tax-related identity theft. Scammers are using stolen Social Security numbers to get unauthorized refunds, and the victims are finding out there’s a problem only when their tax return...
by Leif Jensen | May 4, 2012 | General |
Where do you spend your advertising dollars and time? I was at a SCORE seminar sponsored by Palatine Bank and Trust ; that shared a formula for advertising that I have to admit that I had never seen or heard of before. Time ...
by Leif Jensen | May 4, 2012 | General |
Where do you spend your advertising dollars and time? I was at a SCORE seminar sponsored by Palatine Bank and Trust ; that shared a formula for advertising that I have to admit that I had never seen or heard of before. Time ...
by Leif Jensen | May 3, 2012 | General |
According to the Supreme Court the IRS only has three years to seek back taxes based on an overstated tax basis. According to a case where a business understated the gain from the sale of an asset because an inflated tax basis was used. The Service stated it had six...
by Leif Jensen | May 3, 2012 | General |
According to the Supreme Court the IRS only has three years to seek back taxes based on an overstated tax basis. According to a case where a business understated the gain from the sale of an asset because an inflated tax basis was used. The Service stated it had six...
by Leif Jensen | May 3, 2012 | General |
A side business is a business and not a hobby, according to the tax court. This is good news for an attorney by day and part time filmmaker by night. The documentary film activity is engaged in for profit, despite the large losses incurred in the six years it took to...
by Leif Jensen | May 3, 2012 | General |
A side business is a business and not a hobby, according to the tax court. This is good news for an attorney by day and part time filmmaker by night. The documentary film activity is engaged in for profit, despite the large losses incurred in the six years it took to...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 27, 2012 | General |
The Social Security wage base for 2013 is now projected to be $113,700, an increase of $3,600 from this year’s cap, according to Social Security Admin. trustees. The current estimates for the next few years are as follows: $117,900 for 2014 $123,000 for 2015 $128,400...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 27, 2012 | General |
The only real chance to get any reward for the risk of running a small business is under attack yet again. The Democrats have proposed legislation that would start the crackdown on receiving a distribution that is not subject to a payroll tax involving S...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 22, 2012 | General |
Employer Vehicle Used for Both Business and Personal Use This is always on ongoing issue with clients. We ended up firing a client over this issue. We initially prepared his taxes without the vehicle expenses for his Schedule C since he was unable to and refused to...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 20, 2012 | General |
I do have to admit I continue to be amazed by the amount of inquiries I receive from potential new clients, immediately after tax season. The number one reason is the fact that their prior CPA ignored them during tax season. They call repeatedly because they have...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 18, 2012 | General |
Apparently with the Vietnam War needed additional financial resources, President Johnson was looking for looking under the couch cushions for more money to spend. When it was brought to his attention by an article in the Washington Post that in 1967, 155 (I have seen...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 18, 2012 | General |
Reform of our Federal income tax is long overdue. Special preferences in the law permit far too many Americans to pay less than their fair share of taxes. Too many other Americans bear too much of this tax burden. . . . We must reform our tax structure to make it more...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 15, 2012 | General |
Due to the decrease in resources and the possibility of even greater decreases the IRS is shifting its audit focus for businesses. The IRS plans to utilize less resources for the large major corporations (assets $250 million plus), it appears that they these companies...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 15, 2012 | General |
An exempt group’s volunteer board chairman is personally liable for the companies unpaid payroll taxes, according to a district court rules. Even though he did not have the power to write checks, have active management nor did he handle personnel matters. His crime...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 10, 2012 | General |
The capital-gains levy is an elective tax on owners of stock and other financial assets. Investors have the ability to control when they pay the tax by when they sell their assets. They can hold unrealized gains until the need is too great or when the tax rate is at...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 9, 2012 | General |
Now in this case I am definitely an outsider looking in, so I can only speculate on some of the facts. But in any case it is an intriguing idea and possibly maybe even borderline criminal. It starts with a Board of Directors (BOD) for a Not-for-Profit (NFP). As with...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 9, 2012 | General |
It is always refreshing when a client not only listens to me, but is able to profit from it as well. I just met with a client this weekend that has been dabbling with a side business. This last year he made decent revenue and outsourced the projects and kept the...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 8, 2012 | General |
I was talking to someone I know who recently had to close their business. Luckily for me they were never a client of mine, unfortunately for them they were not. I had inquired whether they had filed for unemployment benefits yet. I was informed that they were never...
