Tag Archive for find a tax professional

Export Disc Corporation (IC-DISC): Computer Software And Internet Sales And Licenses – Part 3

Copyright Rights

The regulations distinguish between transfers of copyright rights and transfers of copyrighted articles based on the type of rights transferred to the transferee. The transfer is classified as a transfer of a copyright if, as a result of a transaction, a person acquires any one or more of the following rights:

1. the right to make copies of the computer program for purposes of distribution to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease or lending;
2. the right to prepare derivative computer programs based on the copyrighted computer program; Read More

Written by | Posted in Tax Planning • Tax Tips

Marijuana Dispensary Income Tax Guidance Update: IRS Memo 201504011

As many of you know who follow my tax musings via this blog, I recently led a team of people that shepherded a Marijuana Dispensary through the IRS Examination and Appeals functions. The dispensary in question was owned and operated by a taxpayer who in all regards was a good, honest, hard working, caring person that kept detailed records accounting for every penny.

By engaging a taxpayer with this profile up front I was able to challenge the nuanced understanding of IRC §280E – Expenditures in Connection with the Illegal Sale of Drugs, §263A – Capitalization & Inclusion of Inventory Costs of Certain Expenses & §471 – General Rules for Inventories inside the IRS without having to get bogged down with the drama of the taxpayer’s character and efficacy of intent as in the Olive Tax Court Case. Read More

Written by | Posted in Individual • IRS • Marijuana Taxes

Learn How Tax Professionals Are Connecting With Taxpayers In A Tax Media Network

Join me Thursday, January 22, 2015 for the webinar “Learn How Tax Professionals Are Connecting With Taxpayers In A Tax Media Network”.

If you are hanging out on other professional media sites and not attracting any clients, it is because you are not hanging out at the right place! TaxConnections has developed technology that builds relationships between tax professionals and taxpayers with the focus on converting these relationships to new customers.

Give me thirty minutes of your time and I will teach you how to position your tax reputation in front of millions searching for tax expertise right now. There is a better way to build your client base and it is faster, smarter and inexpensive. It costs less than one dollar a day Read More

Written by | Posted in TaxConnections

The Unknown Tax Comic – Part 13

♦ The government is really asking a lot of us this month – first we’re supposed to count how many people live in our home, then we’re supposed to count how much money we owe them. I actually got confused and accidentally sent a check to the census and a member of my household to the IRS. Sorry, grandma. (Jimmy Kimmel)

♦ What’s a shy and retiring accountant?
One that’s half-a-million shy and that’s why he’s retiring.

♦ A tax accountant is having a hard time sleeping and goes to see his doctor. “Doctor, I just can’t get to sleep at night.”
“Have you tried counting sheep?” Read More

Written by | Posted in Tax Humor

Proving Tax Exempt Status

In order for contributions to a charitable organization to be deductible, the organization must be an IRS tax-exempt non-profit organization. Before making a contribution to a charitable organization, potential donors may inquire about the organization’s tax exempt status. In these cases, the organization should be able to demonstrate to the potential donor that it is, in fact, a tax-exempt organization. Many people confuse being a non-profit organization and having IRS tax-exempt status. An organization is established as a non-profit by filing with the state as a non-profit corporation. One becomes a tax-exempt organization by filing Form 1023 (or 1023EZ) with the IRS. However, churches are automatically exempt and do not need to apply for tax-exempt status.

Having tax-exempt status means that the organization is not subject to income tax on Read More

Written by | Posted in IRS • Non-Profit Tax • Religion

2015 Is The Year of The Tax Professional – Learn Why

2015 is the “Year of The Tax Professional” for many reasons you will discover as you become more familiar with TaxConnections. As a leading tax media network, TaxConnections is focused on building a media strategy for tax professionals. With more than 4000 members from 75 countries, what has emerged is a community of tax professionals working together to gain higher visibility and leverage on the web as a community banding together. In our case, aggregating tax professionals with a wide range of expertise in cooperation, communication, cross education is better for tax professionals and the taxpayers who want to find them. Taxpayers looking for tax expertise no longer have to research cluttered websites to find the tax expertise they need.  Likewise, tax professionals do not have to pay expensive advertising fees to get noticed as they can now remove themselves from all the Read More

Written by | Posted in TaxConnections

Tax Professionals Happy With Powerful Technology Driving Client Acquisition

Complimentary Webinar – Click Here

Tax professionals around the world are enjoying great success! They discovered the newest technology driving client acquisition. After spending years listening to tax professionals in public accounting firms, law firms, and independent tax consultants searching for improved client acquisition strategies, we decided to come up with a solution. Now with four years of development and plenty of proof, we want to share with you the SECRETS that are responsible for driving new business to tax professionals worldwide. With millions of visitors searching www.taxconnections.com with the sole purpose of finding a tax expert to help them, we have studied carefully and learned about their successes. Read More

Written by | Posted in TaxConnections

Portable Toilets – What’s The True Object of The Transaction?

It never ceases to amaze me, the wide variety of companies that state agencies attempt to extort money from. Most states impose a sales tax on the sale or rental of tangible personal property. But what happens when the sale is part tangible personal property, part service (“known to the sales and use tax attorney as a “mixed transaction”)? Is the entire transaction subject to tax? Many states take the incredibly helpful, “it depends” approach and look to an even more helpful “object of the transaction” test. In reality, it truly seems like state agencies and courts reach a conclusion and fill in the reasons later.

By way of brief background, since the mid-1900’s, when states enacted their first versions of a sales tax, many courts created this “object of the transaction” test. The test attempted to formulate what the customer was really buying, product vs service. If it was a service Read More

Written by | Posted in Sales/Use Tax

Prudence And Caution: The Antidote To The Hazards of Certifying Nonwillfulness Under The Streamlined Procedures

Back on August 13, 2014, the IRS issued an update of the Internal Revenue Manual that sheds some light on what type of submissions might be ripe for audit under the streamlined procedures. For those unfamiliar with the Internal Revenue Manual, it is the “official source of instructions to IRS personnel relating to the organization, administration, and operation of the IRS.”[i] It contains instructions that IRS employees rely upon to carry out their responsibilities, such as procedures for processing and examining tax returns.

The most critical aspect of the update is an instruction that requires submissions containing five or more foreign information returns to be referred for examination.

9. To complete adjustments on Form 1040X filed under the SDO: Read More

Written by | Posted in FBAR • OVDP

Play Ball With The Government Or Else: Marian Morgan Learns Her Lesson The Hard Way

Marian Morgan would not play ball with the U.S. government, and she paid dearly for that decision – a 405-month (almost 34-year) prison sentence. Her codefendants both wound up with very different fates.

Marian Morgan and her husband, John Morgan, ran a Ponzi scheme in Sarasota, Florida, called “Morgan European Holdings,” scamming people out of millions of dollars. They were indicted along with two others, but on more serious charges: one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, seven counts of wire fraud, five counts of transfer of funds taken by fraud, six counts of money laundering, and three counts of falsifying income tax returns. Read More

Written by | Posted in Tax Fraud/Evasion/Crimes

Damages: Deductible?

It’s a fact of life that businesses get sued. Even if they win, there are legal and related fees. What if they lose and have to pay compensatory and perhaps also punitive damages? Perhaps also some fines to the government? What is deductible for tax purposes? A recent case from the First Circuit Court dealt with an action involving the False Claims Act with total damages of just over $486 million!

I had a blog post (9/02/14) about this case a few weeks ago, noting the challenging vocabulary used by the judge and a few quotes from Shakespeare he included.

This topic also raises an important consideration for tax reform purposes. Should any of these damages be tax deductible? Arguably, compensatory damages (for making the Read More

Written by | Posted in Tax Deductions

The Smart Choice! Durable Power of Attorney

Today I received a frantic telephone call from the adult daughter of a senior citizen client for whom I prepared an estate plan 10 years ago. Unfortunately, the man, who is a widower, had a serious stroke. He is alive but is not communicative. The daughter called and asked if I had prepared a Durable Power Of Attorney. Even though I had prepared a Will and a Living Will, the client had insisted that he did not want a Power Of Attorney.

Specifically, this client is a very private person and wanted to be in complete control of all of his assets. I had suggested that we establish a Trust, with him being the Trustee and having one of his children as a Co-Trustee who could take over if he came incapacitated. That was rejected. Read More

Written by | Posted in Estate Planning Tax
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