By George W. Connelly Recently, the IRS issued “Tax Tip 2012-39″ regarding important issues concerning mortgage debt forgiveness. While anyone capable of reading this Blawg is capable of pulling that up from the IRS website and reading it, no action should be undertaken without making sure your tax professional has covered the positives and negatives of [...]
Author Archive
Don’t Be A Victim Of One Of The IRS “Dirty Dozen Tax Scams” For 2012
March 22, 2012By George W. Connelly In February, the IRS published its annual “Dirty Dozen” listing of tax scams to caution taxpayers about problems they may face in this filing season. They range from self-inflicted—too good to be true—to situations where third parties prey upon the unsuspecting. Several are fairly common and familiar, ranging from reporting income that [...]
If The Job Offer Includes A Loan From The Employer, Talk To Your Tax Adviser Before Accepting!
February 27, 2012By George W. Connelly It is not uncommon for sought-after job seekers to receive what appears to be an offer that is too good to be true: in addition to a good compensation and benefits package, the employer proposes to make a loan to the applicant, and to forgive the entire amount if the person stays [...]
Where Does the IRS Get Off Telling You How to Run Your Business?
November 22, 2011By George W. Connelly When the IRS audits a tax return involving a business, its agents invariably get involved in questions of recordkeeping and how transactions are conducted and recorded. All too often, an IRS Examiner will suggest that a taxpayer’s records are not “adequate,” or that in some fashion the taxpayer is not operating in [...]
Will “Starving the Beast” Mean the End of the Taxpayer Advocate’s Office?
November 10, 2011By George W. Connelly Your writer has been dealing with tax disputes for over 40 years, and believes that the two most important developments for taxpayers were the passage of the 1998 IRS Restructuring and Reform Act, and the creation of the Taxpayer Advocate Service (“TAS,” formerly known as the “Problem Resolution Office” and the “Ombudsman”). [...]
How Do You Know the IRS Received What You Sent?
November 3, 2011By George W. Connelly In any given year, a person is likely to send one or more of a fairly standard variety of items to the IRS. Tax returns, payments, responses to inquiries, and claims for refund are the most frequent but certainly not an exhaustive list. I’ve even known of some people who have sent [...]
When It Comes To Compliance With The Tax Laws, How Do IRS Employees Stack Up?
July 6, 2011By George W. Connelly On May 5, 2011, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) issued a report that is not going to please anybody. It concluded that IRS employees are provided with ample information about their tax responsibilities to enable them to comply, but some do not, and the agency needs to do more [...]
Does the IRS Ever Make Believe You Have Assets You Don’t Have?
May 24, 2011By George W. Connelly In IRS examinations, many practitioners encounter situations where the Internal Revenue Service seems to conjure up a set of facts that is divorced from reality. On the collection side, strange as it may sound, the IRS sometimes does this too, by treating the taxpayer as if he has assets he really doesn’t. When [...]
If Santa Claus Doesn’t Answer Your Letters, Why Should You Expect The IRS To?
April 5, 2011By George W. Connelly For the last several years, the Internal Revenue Service has been increasing the number of “correspondence” audits that it conducts. There seems to be an assumption that it costs less and requires less manpower than field or in-person audits, and that assumption is doubtless true. However, there is a real question about [...]
Supreme Court holds that medical residents are subject to FICA taxes
January 21, 2011Guest Post by Heather Pesikoff In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court recently ended the multi-decade debate over whether medical residents are eligible for the student FICA exception. It ruled that the exception is not applicable, medical residents are employees and therefore subject to Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes.
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Phil Karter
Jonathan Prokup
David Shakow
George Connelly, Jr.
Buck Buchanan
David Bernard
Dustin Covello
Heather Pesikoff
Hale Sheppard
dustincovello
