A running theme of this blog is that it doesn’t matter how you are paid; income from cash is just as taxable as checks or credit cards. But it’s so tempting when you receive cash; who will notice if a few dollars go missing from your tax return? That was apparently the idea of Kirk [...]

I used to live in California’s central valley. It’s prime agricultural land, with citrus, almonds, pistachios, stone fruits, grapes, and practically anything else that you can eat. The cities there aren’t big (Fresno is the largest), and poverty and unemployment are rampant. The central valley is also where California will begin construction of a high [...]

With the probable demise of the IRS’s initiative to create Registered Tax Return Preparers (RTRPs), the alphabet soup of tax professionals is now down to EAs, CPAs, CTECs, and JDs. While Robert Flach argues that RTRPs should be resurrected as a voluntary designation, I doubt that will happen (and I don’t see a benefit from [...]

Phil Mickelson has overcome a chronic illness (psoriatic arthritis) and continues to be one of the best golfers in the world. However, Mr. Mickelson golf game may be felled by something that his home state of California and the US government have implemented: taxes. From the Golf Blog (from Sports Illustrated), Mr. Mickelson is quoted [...]

Back in December I noted the Institute for Justice’s lawsuit challenging the IRS’ regulations of unenrolled tax professionals (preparers who are not CPAs, Enrolled Agents, or attorneys). The IRS had publicly stated that the lawsuit was without merit. They better rethink that attitude as a federal judge disagrees. Today, Judge James Boasberg ruled that the [...]

The IRS announced relief today for a Catch-22 situation for farmers and fishermen. Normally, farmers and fishermen who choose not to make quarterly estimated tax payments are not subject to a penalty if they file their returns and pay the full amount of tax due by March 1. The problem is that most farmers must [...]

No, this isn’t a post on the next zombie movie. Yes, Las Vegas does have a Zombie Apocalypse Store (humorously, near one of my clients). But I digress…. Instead, we’re going to focus on a CPA from Northridge, California (in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles) who is very much alive. Masood Chotani [...]

As expected, the California Supreme Court has accepted Gillette vs. Franchise Tax Board. While no date has been announced for the arguments, I’d expect the case to be heard this Spring or Summer, with a decision sometime before year-end. The Gillette case is very important to multi-state entities that file in California. Prior Taxable Talk [...]

Today the IRS announced a simplified option for claiming the home office deduction (Form 8829). The deduction will allow some to take $5 per square foot of home office (up to a maximum of 300 square feet). This new “simplified” procedure will be available for 2013 tax returns filed in 2014. Do note that the [...]

Back in December, I reported on how the Franchise Tax Board (California’s income tax agency) would interpret the Cutter decision. I didn’t spend much time on it, as the subject of Qualified Small Business stock (QSB) doesn’t impact many of my blog readers. The FTB decided that since the appellate court ruled as aspect of [...]