Be proactive, Stephen F. Covey urged his readers in “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” Over twenty years after the book’s firs publication, this remains excellent advice. Applying it to tax preparation makes good sense, too. This includes taking all reasonable steps to avoid IRS audits. Some of those steps […]
The IRS is going after assets held in foreign accounts like never before. First it was not one but two iterations of the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative (OVDI). Coming soon is a new law called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). FATCA is an offshore account enforcement law passed […]
Small businesses are greatly affected by tax reporting requirements. If the government isn’t careful, compliance with these requirements can become excessively burdensome for business. And that, in turn, can hurt productivity and make small businesses less competitive. In other words, business income taxes involve a fine line. Our tax system […]
The digital revolution is underway everywhere in America. The payment of taxes, and the administration of the tax system by the IRS, are certainly not exceptions to this. In fact, increased use of technology may make IRS tax audits more likely. According to a recent report by the national taxpayer advocate, the […]
Once again it is tax season in the United States. While you have until April 17 to get your tax return submitted to the IRS, the sooner you file, the sooner you will see your return. Despite the monetary incentive, filing taxes is no walk in the park. It can […]
Texans gearing up for April’s tax return filing deadline should be aware of recent modifications made to laws regarding taxes on foreign assets. In 2010, U.S. Congress passed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which changes how the IRS verifies tax return data. IRS agents will now have increased […]
No one in Texas hopes to get a notification telling them their tax return is being audited. The very mention of an audit is dreaded by most people. Not only that, but if an audit is not handled properly, it can be extremely stressful and sometimes result in an even bigger tax […]
The Internal Revenue Service has announced new rules that some Texas residents may want to pay attention to. The first rule that the IRS has begun implementing requires the banks of customers who have offshore accounts to provide more details about their customers’ income. The federal government says the new […]
Every person is allowed to gift up to $5 million in his or her lifetime, exempt from gift taxes. But within a year, each person is also allowed to gift up to $13,000 without that counting towards the lifetime exemption. However, in order to keep track of the amount gifted […]
As many people in Texas know, paying taxes can be confusing, especially as more and more people try to save money by doing their own taxes. There is plenty of room for errors. However, the IRS is not usually sympathetic to people they suspect of committing tax fraud. In a […]