Author Archives: Russ

Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, Is More Important than Ever

Posted on August 11, 2021 by Russ

It’s exactly 399 miles from my office to the Post Office in Fresno, California (93779). On my way out of town on my vacation, I stopped at the Post Office to mail a response to an IRS notice.  This was … Continue reading →

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Vacation

Posted on July 26, 2021 by Russ

We’re on vacation for the next week.  If something earth-shattering in the tax world happens while I’m relaxing, I’ll take time out to post on it. Otherwise, enjoy the fine bloggers listed in the blogroll on the right. I’ll be … Continue reading →

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Tax Professionals: Use Systemic Advocacy Management System (SAMS)

Posted on July 23, 2021 by Russ

With the pandemic, the IRS has faced a lot of issues.  One that has faced my clients is the IRS ignoring responses to Automated Underreporting Unit (AUR) notices.  These notices are sent when the IRS receives notification of items of … Continue reading →

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At Least I’m Not Classified as “Dead”

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Russ

I’ve been talking over the past months about the issues faced by taxpayers in dealing with the IRS.  Suffice to say, when you have a 3% chance of reaching a human things aren’t going well.  But we should always look … Continue reading →

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IRS Wakes Up, Still Smells Like Crown Imperials

Posted on July 7, 2021 by Russ

Normally when we talk about smelling flowers we’ll use a line like, “Waking up and smelling like roses.”  But that is decidedly not the case with this story, so we chose a different plant: Crown Imperial (Fritillaria imperialis).  You’ll see … Continue reading →

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Is the IRS Telling Tax Professionals the Truth?

Posted on July 7, 2021 by Russ

Yesterday, a fellow tax professional posted on Twitter: Ogden currently has 70 tractor trailers of unopened mail. – per IRS agent trying to explain why a POA from 2019 still hasn’t cleared yet. Yet if you read the IRS Operations … Continue reading →

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The Trump Organization Indictments

Posted on July 5, 2021 by Russ

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that The Trump Organization and its Chief Financial Officer, Allen Weisselberg, were indicted on 15 counts including grand larceny, conspiracy, and tax fraud.  The former President is (and has been) a … Continue reading →

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35,300,000

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Russ

This morning, The National Taxpayer Advocate issued her semi-annual report to Congress.  In the report is the true state of tax returns at the IRS.  Fair warning, it’s not a pretty picture. As of the close of the filing season … Continue reading →

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Here We Go Again: Bias in the IRS’s Tax Exempt Group

Posted on June 20, 2021 by Russ

Most of us remember the IRS scandal from 2013.  In that scandal we learned that the IRS and/or individuals working at the IRS deliberately targeted conservative tax exempt (nonprofit) organizations.  It was a huge scandal at the time, and it … Continue reading →

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§1031 Exchanges for Cryptocurrency: The IRS Thinks Not

Posted on June 19, 2021 by Russ

Back in September 2017 I wrote a piece titled, “Can You Use a §1031 Exchange to Defer Gain with Cryptocurrency?”  The conclusion I drew was, “[M]ost exchanges of one cryptocurrency for another do not qualify as §1031 exchanges and it’s … Continue reading →

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