Author Archives: Russ

New Portal Delayed Until Next Week

Our newsletter (which has gone out) notes that you should have received an announcement on our new web portal.  You haven’t.  The current (old) portal is still active; the new portal will be released next week as there was a … Continue reading

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The Real Winners of the 2025 World Series of Poker: Zero Is the Best Number

This year’s main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) attracted 9,735 entrants each of whom paid $10,000 attempting to become the World Champion. This wasn’t a record (last year’s field had 10,112), but it was still the third … Continue reading

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Did the W-2G Threshold for Slots Get Increased in the One Big Beautiful Bill?

I’ve seen reports online that the threshold for issuance of W-2Gs was increased in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) to $2,000 from $600.  Is that true? First, the threshold for issuance of many 1099s was increased by the OBBB to $2,000 … Continue reading

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Senate Version of Big, Beautiful Bill Is Bigly Ugly Towards Gambling

The extension to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is now in the Senate as the “Big, Beautiful Bill.”  The Senate version will likely receive a final vote today (and pass); however, it is quite different in certain areas … Continue reading

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Missouri Joins New Jersey in the Hall of Shame for Encouraging Identity Theft

Earlier this year the New Jersey Division of Taxation asked one of my clients to email documentation–including his social security number.  We refused.  As New Jersey’s own advice notes, emailing personally confidential information like a social security number is a … Continue reading

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WSOP and Taxes: 2025 Update

The 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) begins later today here in Las Vegas at the Paris and Horseshoe hotels (the hotels are linked). There are also several other tournament series that have either begun or will soon begin at … Continue reading

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Today Is Tax Day

Today is April 15th.  Besides being the 14th anniversary of “Black Friday,” it’s Tax Day in the US. If you haven’t filed your returns, file an extension NOW!  That said, if you live in a federal disaster zone it might … Continue reading

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Bozo Tax Tip #1: Not Remitting Payroll Taxes

A couple of years ago, I received a visit from a member of the IRS’s Criminal Investigation unit.  It turns out a client, call him Larry, had worked for a company that decided to not remit payroll taxes.  The loss … Continue reading

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Bozo Tax Tip #2: The Eternal Hobby Loss

The goal of must businesses is to make money. There aren’t many businesses that can lose on each sale and make it up in volume. In fact, I don’t know of any. But I digress…. So let’s take Sam and … Continue reading

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Bozo Tax Tip #3: Foreign Trusts

By far the worst tax schemes in the view of the IRS are offshore (foreign) trusts. In fact, trusts of all sorts—domestic and foreign—are regularly abused. First, not all trusts are bad. Many trusts serve a legitimate purpose, such as … Continue reading

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