“Begin with the end in mind,” wrote Stephen F. Covey in his highly influential book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. How would principle apply to small businesses seeking to minimize tax liability while avoiding IRS audits? For one thing, it’s important to consider how the IRS is likely to […]
Collecting sales tax from customers and making sales tax payments to the government can be a logistical challenge for many businesses. This is particularly true of small businesses, which do not always have the accounting personnel and other staff to handle sales taxes easily. The risk, of course, is that […]
It’s been two weeks after the election and it is only six weeks before the end of the year. But it still remains to be seen what tax changes Congress might make to address the combination of automatic spending cuts and tax increases included in the short-hand phrase “fiscal cliff.” […]
We’ve heard over and over that it’s coming: a “fiscal cliff.” The dramatic phrase has become so common in government circles that it’s become unavoidable. And no one doubts that the expiration of numerous tax cuts at the end of the year could profoundly affect individual income taxes. Taxpayers in […]
In a tax system based on voluntary compliance, it is crucial that taxpayers the IRS offer sufficient security for personal data submitted by taxpayers. If the agency does not keep such data safe from snooping or hacking, it would fairly quickly threaten the integrity of the entire tax system. To […]
Every field of activity has its own peculiar tax considerations. Churches are no exception. In fact, churches, and the clergy who serve them, probably have more unusual tax peculiarities to consider than many other fields. It is fair to ask whether this reasoning applies to tax audits. Are churches more […]
If the Internal Revenue Service puts someone through the stress and round-up-the-records work of an audit, you’d think the agency would conduct the audit in a timely and accurate manner. Unfortunately, according to a new report, that is often not the case. The report was released last week by the […]
IRS audits are hardly an experience that anyone would seek out. For individuals and businesses alike, it can be time-consuming and laborious to satisfy the agency’s scrutiny. Naturally, it can also be stressful, with the potential risk of tax penalties or even criminal tax charges. If, however, an IRS audit is already […]
The tax system is ultimately based on trust. To be sure, the IRS is often aggressive in auditing and investigating taxpayers for failure to file taxes or for alleged errors. So are revenue agents in Texas and other states. For the most part, however, the government depends on voluntary compliance […]
When a business fails to pay its payroll taxes in to the government, it’s a recipe for trouble. As we noted in our July 2 post, the penalties for not paying these employment taxes in to the Social Security trust fund can be substantial. For starters, there may be an employment […]