Recently, a survey of the nations CEO’s that ranked all states in terms of their business environments listed California dead last. Actually, we came in 51st out of the 50 states since they included the District of Columbia. According to Chief Executive Magazine, California has become “the Venezuela of North America”. Maybe that’s why [...]
Right after the April 15th crunch subsided, I took a few days to test the wild trout population in the Eastern Sierras. They are still there, and it was good to get away and detox without cell phone coverage or any other electronic devices screaming for my attention. There is absolutely nothing more therapeutic [...]
Many years ago I toiled as a staff accountant at a local CPA firm in Rolling Hills, CA. The senior partner, whose name was Marty, was known to occasionally go out of his way to aggravate the office staff purely for entertainment. Example: many of the staff struggled to keep their weight under control. [...]
Its springtime and two annual phenomena will be reoccurring like clockwork as they have for years: 1) Trout season opens soon in the Eastern Sierras (yaay!) and, 2) lots of people are now flush with cash from tax refund checks. The IRS has said that the average tax refund this year has been around [...]
I’ve refrained from blogging for awhile as most of my spare time seems to have disappeared due to workload. Don’t get me wrong – I’m happy to have the work, its just that nowadays when I get a free moment I usually end up pondering a rising trout on a particular eastern sierra stream [...]
Often we get asked: “If I claim (fill in the blank), is it a red flag?” Our response is usually a long winded explanation ending with, “it depends”. The truth is, the IRS’s formula for selecting returns to audit is a well kept secret. Some returns are selected completely by random, and others are [...]
This is the third installment in my blogs about charitable donation deductions. Previously, we discussed the new rules for Haitian Relief deductions (1/27/2010), and donations of autos & boats (12/7/2009). We are now seeing a steady inflow of individuals bringing in their 2009 data for tax return prep. One common question is: What can [...]
California’s fiscal crisis does not show any signs of resolution. Despite assurances from the Governor and legislators that the state will remain able to pay its bills through June 30, John Chiang, State Controller, has released a warning that that may not be the case. According to Mr Chiang, California could very well run out [...]
As I‘ve previously shared with you, we frequently receive questions from clients asking what else they can deduct to lower taxable income. In the “bet you haven’t tried this one” category falls a recent tax court decision that allowed a taxpayer to deduct the costs of a sex change operation as a medical deduction.The taxpayer [...]
Driving in to the office today I was able to see clouds dumping snow on the local mountains. It was a good reminder that nature sometimes has an effect on our lives, and I thought it would be appropriate to discuss the tax incentive signed into law this week to help the Haitian earthquake victims. [...]
