GTKYT: John R. Dundon II

It’s Getting To Know You Tuesday!

Today’s tax pro makes his living in the Mile High City. John R. Dundon, II, is an Enrolled Agent (EA) and tax blogger, in Denver, Colorado. In keeping with the idea that tax work is never boring, John recently had the opportunity to defend a company in a rapidly changing area of the law. Here’s what John had to say:

1. Where are you now? Denver, Colorado

2. What’s your official title and what does it mean? Enrolled Agent licensed by the US Treasury to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Services; tax blogger at http://JohnRDundon.com; President at Taxpayer Advocacy Services, Inc. I own and operate a bookkeeping, accounting, tax preparation and taxpayer representation practice catering to US Taxpayers all over planet Earth.

3. What books are on your nightstand? IRS Whistle Blower by Retired IRS Revenue Officer Richard M. Schickel & When the IRS Is After You by Retired IRS Employees Schickel, Goff, Dieken & Porter

4. If you weren’t working in the tax profession, what would your dream job be? Head Rowing (Crew) Coach for the US Olympic Team

5. What’s the last movie that you saw (DVD or in the theater)? Shawshank Redemption

6. Tax is a huge subject. What’s your area of special interest?
a. Translating a vastly conflicting set of Title 26 Codes into understandable sound bites for the small and medium size business owner as well as individual taxpayers.
b. Settling (efficiently) disputed matters involving worker classification, officer compensation, business expenses, & gross receipts.
c. IRS Form 990 preparation and representation governing non-profits
d. IRS Form 1041 preparation and representation governing estates & trusts

7. What’s the best tax or financial advice that anyone ever gave you? Listen very carefully with intent to all taxpayers encountered to best understand what needs are to be met. Always take notes at every meeting. Be honest, work hard and take pride but admit & correct mistakes immediately upon discovery. Learn from defeat and get back up.

8. Coffee or tea? Tea.

9. Name five artists on your iPod or digital player. REM, Clash, U2, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd

10. What would I be surprised to know about you? I defended a medical marijuana dispensary in Colorado in 2011 for tax years 2008 and 2009 tax form 1120S. The conflicting sections of the code in dispute were 280E, 263a and 471. At that time because of the conflicts within these code sections and relatively narrow Tax Court precedent there were no real standards of enforcement for the industry relative to reporting income for tax purposes. As such back then IRS Revenue Agents were inconsistently applying the law by region. The IRS Revenue Agents on the case I defended alleged US Treasury Circular 230 violations against me essentially because I refused to acquiesce to their overreaching demands. That caused me to kick the sheets for many months, I stuck with it though. After shepherding the disputed matters through the IRS Appeals function in the end I confidentially created opportunity for the IRS to standardized how they would litigate ‘trafficking’ under IRC 280E relative to 263a and 471. Subsequently as a direct result of these 2011 efforts, Office of Chief Counsel Internal Revenue Service Memorandum Number: 201504011 was released on 1/23/2015 and has been used as the basis for income tax reporting ever since. I blogged about it here. As a silver lining my EA license was never compromised whatsoever and the IRS Revenue Agent instigating the allegations eventually apologized after the fact.

11. What college did you attend (in what subject)?
Marquette University – Bachelor of Science – Business Administration 1986
University of Minnesota – MBA – Information Systems 1992

12. If you had the opportunity to make one change in the tax code tomorrow – an extra credit, a disallowed deduction, whatever – what would it be? I would do away with all refundable tax credits as they perpetrate fraud both out of taxpayers and tax practitioners alike. I would also make the 1023 application for non-profit status more rigorous with regards to demonstrating charitable intent in local communities.

13. What’s the best thing on TV right now? Designated Survivor

14. What do you think Congress will repeal first: estate tax or AMT? Estate tax

15. If Uncle Sam handed you a huge refund check right now, what would you do with it?
Validate its authenticity and then donate it in equal parts to St. Peter’s Lutheran Church and the Rocky Mountain Rowing Club.

16. Biggest tax newsmaker: Trump, Ryan, identity thieves or the EU? TRUMP!

17. And, other than taxgirl for Forbes, what’s your favorite tax-related web site? www.JohnRDundon.com of course!
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Thanks, John! You can find John on his blog at www.JohnRDundon.com. You can also connect with him on Twitter, on Facebook, and on LinkedIn.
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If you’d like to recommend a tax pro to be featured send your suggestions to kelly (dot) erb (at) taxgirl (dot) com with the subject: Getting To Know You Tuesday (it’s tax season: use anything else and it could get lost, you’ve been warned). Self-nominations are totally okay and, in fact, encouraged!