October 15th (17th this year) is a huge date for us in the tax realm. It’s the final extended due date for late filers to get their tax returns in on time. While April 15th gets a lot of publicity, historically October has been busier for our firm than April due to all the [...]
Sometimes at the slightest hint of a problem with their taxes, clients’ fear of the government prompts them to ask “I won’t go to prison, will I?” If you make an honest mistake or have a unique situation where the facts aren’t entirely clear, you may be facing some penalties and interest, but you [...]
Just across the wires today: Amazon has reached a deal with California lawmakers to drop Amazon’s efforts to seek a referendum to stop CA pols from assessing sales tax on internet transactions forwarded to Amazon.com from CA websites. In exchange for Amazon suspending its efforts, CA will not attempt to collect the tax for [...]
Some serious stuff this time: Their may be a silver lining in the recent slide in the stock market. If you took advantage of the relaxed IRA/Roth Conversion rules last year and converted your regular IRA to a Roth, listen up! You probably paid tax on that conversion, and you have an opportunity until [...]
Prior to getting married (a long time ago), I did some premarital tax projections and realized that our joint income tax burden as a married couple would be significantly higher than if we were to remain single. Although I was accused of stalling, after much cajoling I managed to convince my soon-to-be bride to [...]
The IRS is modernizing. The IRS has learned from the private sector how to leverage their resources and get the best bang for their buck. They have invested heavily in technology and information systems that enable the agency to conduct much business through the mail and avoid costly face time with auditors. This also [...]
A couple things passed over my desk recently that I thought might be noteworthy, and I am passing them along for your review… If you have money in a foreign bank account the IRS is expanding its efforts to locate you. They are investigating Credit Suisse and other foreign banks to determine if they [...]
There has been a lot of news recently about the new decrease in sales tax rates here in California, but very little about a recent law signed by California Governor Jerry Brown that attempts to levy sales tax on internet sales of goods to California residents by out of state retailers. This new law, [...]
There’s been much going on in our office in the last few weeks and I have been hard pressed for spare time to keep you informed about interesting tax stuff, but this came across my desk and I just had to share it:One of our clients recently received a letter from the California Board of [...]
Now that the tax filing date has passed and I have some extra time to notice what’s happening in the rest of the world, I’ll try and keep you posted as things of interest pop up. One thing that we should all be mindful of is the promise of change. I know the word [...]
