In September, about 17.6 million tax returns were still awaiting processing, and the IRS expects to receive over 4 million more in October. The delay has left many taxpayers frustrated, especially those grappling with error notices and being charged penalties and interest for alleged mistakes. Those penalties add up. For the fiscal year 2020, the…
It’s been a long 18 months for tax professionals–deemed #marchternity on Twitter. But is there light at the end of the tunnel? According to the 2021 Accountants Confidence Report, tax and accounting professionals are confident their clients’ finances will improve over the next 12-18 months. However, the same report shows industry professionals are also pessimistic…
Over the past year, Kelly has talked a lot about “the profession.” Broadly, that refers to the tax world. However, tax as a career isn’t always easy to categorize, and not all tax professionals are accountants or preparers. Kelly is often asked how to get started in tax, and since the answer can be so…
In 2008, pop star Britney Spears was put under a court-sanctioned conservatorship. That meant other people (including her father), named as conservators, could make decisions about her career and money. The story has attracted so much attention that it has its own New York Times documentary, and its own hashtag on Twitter, known as the…
In March of 2020, Congress introduced a new tax credit: the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) as part of the CARES Act. The ERC was a direct response to the pandemic and was designed to help businesses keep employees on the payroll. But the ERC got off to a rocky start and was quickly overshadowed by…
While partnerships have given Kelly many headaches, many tax professionals are drawn to them because of their notorious detail and nuance. It may not be surprising that new tax technology innovations often enter the world of partnerships before other areas of tax practice. As business and partnership complexity grows, so does the challenge of tax…
Michael Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009, shocked the world. And the legal drama that followed shocked many tax attorneys. At the time of his death, Jackson was clearly worth millions, but the exact value of his estate was unclear. The matter eventually went to court, where a ruling found that Michael Jackson’s image and…
In 2017, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that over 36% of Americans are a part of “the gig economy,” a dramatic increase from 2-4% in 2005. This is the most recent data available and does not account for pandemic numbers. Those jobs aren’t just paid differently; there are different tax consequences too, from Form…
As we come out of the pandemic, many taxpayers find they are not in the same financial situation as before. Some lost jobs or businesses, while others took on extra debt. Many of the expenses, from healthcare to mortgage payments, remained on the table, even if they were delayed or deferred. Now that we seem…
Earlier this summer, ProPublica made waves by publishing what it said was verified IRS information showing that billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth. ProPublica described the info as “an unprecedented look inside the financial lives of America’s titans.” The article caused quite a stir,…