The damage from Hurricane Helene was horrific in and around western North Carolina, and several states have been declared federal disaster zones.  The IRS announced late yesterday that the entire states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, along with parts of Florida, Virginia, and Tennessee have disaster extensions until May 1, 2025. This ..read more

The IRS announced this morning that tax deadlines have been postponed in several counties in Illinois due to recent severe weather in the Chicagoland area: The IRS is offering relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Currently, this includes Cook, Fulton, Henry, St. Clair, Washington, Will and Winnebago counties in ..read more

Yesterday, I had to call the IRS to obtain an address to mail a return to (it had to go to a special address), and discuss collection activities for another client. Unfortunately, the IRS computer system crashed.  (It came back up late in the day.)  This morning, I went to run some transcripts and, again ..read more

One of our clients made a mistake on his payroll tax deposits: He shorted the IRS $4,590. He realized his mistake, and immediately made a correcting payroll tax deposit (albeit late). There’s a penalty for this, and it’s 10% (based on the number of days his payment was late)–which he paid in advance of an ..read more

The story you’re about to read is true. The names (and dollar amounts) have been changed to protect the innocent. John and Mary Smith, long-time clients, filed an amended return for the 2017 tax year years ago. It took some time, but their claim for an approximate $750,000 refund was approved.  Finally, in early 2023 ..read more

This year is supposed to be a very active year in the tropics, with over 20 tropical storms (some of which will be hurricanes) predicted.  Hurricane Debby made landfall in Florida, and then made a second landfall in the Carolinas with ongoing issues in Pennsylvania and the northeast (much of the area is under flood ..read more

In mid-June I received mail from the IRS.  That’s not unusual; I receive a lot of mail from the IRS (generally, correspondence for clients).  But this was different: it was a check for $1.87.  Here’s the check: Now, I wasn’t expecting a refund (I owed tax, which I paid with the filing). It’s definitely labeled ..read more

Phishing is something tax professionals see daily.  We have antivirus and malware protection installed throughout our network and on all workstations, but I still see a phishing email a day.  Here’s one: There are a number of clues that this is a phishing attempt: The sender’s name and email address don’t match; The email isn’t ..read more

I was not one of the 10,112 entrants (a record field) in the 2024 Main Event of the World Series of Poker. Yesterday saw the winner being crowned. He received a cool $10 Million, but how much of the winnings would he keep? For the record, 1,517 of the entrants (about 15% of the field) received part of the $94,041,600 prize pool with a minimum cash being $15,000. One important note: I do need to point out that many of the players in the tournament were “backed.” Poker tournaments have a high variance (luck factor). Thus, many tournament players sell portions of their action to investors to lowe ..read more

The IRS announced today that based on a request from Russia last August that most of the US-Russia Tax Treaty will be suspended beginning August 16, 2024.  One impact: Russians who have gambling income in the US that’s subject to withholding (for example, poker tournaments) will be facing 30% withholding from August 16th onward.  That does not impact this year’s World Series of Poker (currently running at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos here in Las Vegas), but will impact the 2025 WSOP ..read more