Can You Work 15-Hour Days and Be Ethical?
Enrolled agents, and the tax community as a whole, work too much during tax season, and it puts taxpayers at a disadvantage. I know you may not want to hear this because it is contrary to your business model of jamming eight to 15 tax returns per day into your schedule, six to ...
Financial Planning Using Qualified Opportunity Zones
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) expanded the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption amounts, dramatically changing the landscape of estate tax planning. Less appreciated has been the TCJA’s creation of a new tax-de - ferred investment opportuni... Kevin Matz, CPA, JD
RPA Enables Tax Pros to Focus on Planning
It is not hard to recognize the value of robotic process automation (RPA). Robotic process automation relieves staff of repetitive tasks, increases the usability of data, virtually eliminates errors, and boosts efficiencies. Tax professionals would welcome any of these results, but is ther... McClur
Post-TCJA Qualified Personal Residence Trust Planning
The sweeping changes of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) have prompted a reconsideration of many financial plans. The realm of estate planning will be especially affected by the TCJA’s doubling of the federal estate tax exemption. The author presents a hyp... Martin Shenkman, CPA/PFS, JD, AEP
Become Americas Advanced Tax Expert
BECOME AMERICA’S ADVANCED TAX EXPERT BY Mary Sunderland, EA, USTCP & Bill Nemeth, EA Do you want to stand out as a tax practitioner? Are you confident that you offer the latest and best tax advice to your clients? Do you want to grow your business by taking on more complicated tax returns and representation clients? Do you want to know the tax experts in these areas? ... Mary Sunderland, EA, USTCP
Breaking Down the Tax Professionals Role in Estate Planning
Many of us look for additional income- generating avenues during the off-season. I became a certified estate planner to bring in extra money. You may be thinking, “What exactly is a tax professional’s role in estate planning?” Simply put, it is our job to watch for issues like the estate tax, while at the same time having a solid understanding of what will be done at the time of death and how to adhere to the estate plan. First of all, th... Craig W. Smalley, EA
How to Stop a Trust Fund Recovery Penalty Interview
Your client operates a business that owes employment taxes to the IRS, and an IRS Revenue Officer has just called you and requested that your client come down to his office for a meeting to discuss the debt. You presume the Revenue Officer wants to discuss collection of the debt from the business, maybe requesting that your client complete a Form 433B, Collection Information Statement for Businesses. After all, the business owes the debt,... By HOWARD LEVY, JD