Tax return mistakes are not uncommon. Since taxes can be extremely complicated and the documents required to file them properly are sometimes difficult to understand, mistakes occur more than you may expect. This is especially true for taxpayers filing their own returns. Now add to the mix that a lot has changed with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
You’ve probably heard the old saying, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” It turns out that that advice is particularly applicable in the tax debt relief arena. Many taxpayers who are struggling with tax debt often feel that their problems are insurmountable, which can result in feelings of desperation.
Individuals as well as corporations, partnerships, and trusts that have financial interests in or authority over one or more foreign financial accounts need to report these relationships to the U.S. Treasury, provided that the aggregate value of those accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the year.
As a reminder to those who have not yet filed their 2018 tax returns, April 15, is the due date to either file a return (and pay the taxes owed) or file for an automatic six-month extension (and pay the an estimate of the taxes owed).
The IRS is a large and complex bureaucracy that wields an enormous amount of power over the lives of everyday Americans, most of whom have little understanding of how the IRS works or what it expects of them. This is why receiving a letter or notice from the IRS causes a great deal of fear and anxiety in many taxpayers.
Have you been ignoring your future retirement needs? This tends to happen when people are young; because retirement is far in the future, they believe that they have plenty of time to save for it.
For most people, personal finance is a deeply private matter and the idea of revealing their personal financial information to anyone, especially total strangers, can often cause fear and anxiety.
If the sale of business or investment property results in a gain, the gain is normally subject to tax in the year of the sale. However, there are opportunities to report a gain over several years, to postpone it by investing the proceeds into another property, or by simply investing the gain in a recently enacted investment vehicle.
No one wants to find out that they owe money to the IRS when Tax Day arrives. However, owing money to the IRS is even worse when the amount includes additional penalties that you could have avoided through more prudent tax planning.
It’s been more than one year since tax reform was passed and taxpayers and their tax advisors have been waiting for guidance as to whether rental property will be classified as a trade or business for purposes of qualifying for the IRC Sec 199A 20% pass-through deduction (referred to as the 199A deduction).
