Author Archives: Russ

“I Bestow on You the Title of Taxpayer in Good Standing…”

Posted on February 7, 2016 by Russ

A bit of humor to start the day. Courtesy of Spidell’s Tax Season Tribune, I discover that a video game has decided to emulate the Internal Revenue Service. Now, it’s been years since I played video games. Apparently the game … Continue reading →

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Maryland Suspends Processing Tax Returns from 23 Liberty Tax Service Locations

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Russ

Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot announced on Tuesday that he has suspended processing from 16 more Liberty Tax Service locations (bringing the total suspended to 23). The decision was made based on suspicious characteristics found on the returns: Business income reported … Continue reading →

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IRS Computers Crash

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Russ

2015 was a year the IRS would like to forget. Unfortunately, 2016 may be heading the same way. Yesterday, the IRS had a computer failure impacting multiple systems. Those systems are still down this morning (as of 6:30am PST). The … Continue reading →

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A Tale of Three States

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Russ

Hawaii, Indiana, and Mississippi are three states where daily fantasy sports (DFS) is being debated. The three states are representative of what is likely to occur in every state. Last week, Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin issued an advisory opinion … Continue reading →

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The Liberty to Commit Tax Fraud

Posted on January 31, 2016 by Russ

There are thousands of tax professionals. These range from the huge firms such as H&R Block to mom and pop outfits. The professionals range from Enrolled Agents, CPAs, and tax attorneys to those who have just put up a sign … Continue reading →

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FTB’s New MyFTB Impresses; Will the IRS Take Heed?

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Russ

Submitting a Power of Attorney form to the IRS means I must fax the form to the IRS’s Centralized Authorization File (CAF) unit and hope that the POA is entered in timely. A few years ago authorized e-services providers (which … Continue reading →

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An Entity a Day Will Keep the IRS Away, Right?

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Russ

Here’s a scheme that’s sure to work to avoid remitting payroll taxes to the IRS. Every day (or week or month), I’ll form a new business entity that’s collecting the tax. Once the amount due to the IRS gets large, … Continue reading →

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Storm Tax Relief for Missouri

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Russ

Possibly lost in the blanket of snow that fell back east was the IRS announcement on Friday granting tax relief for individuals and businesses impacted by the December storms in Missouri. Here is the IRS announcement in full: IRS Provides … Continue reading →

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Fail, Caesar! An Update

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Russ

It’s been just over a year since Caesars Entertainment Operating Company (CEOC) declared bankruptcy. If Caesars Management was hoping that the court-appointed examiner would be giving them good news, and that the company would be coming out of bankruptcy unscathed, … Continue reading →

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Texas Attorney General: DFS Illegal in Texas

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Russ

Texas’s Attorney General, Ken Paxton, issued an opinion today that says that daily fantasy sports (DFS) is illegal under Texas law. The crux of Mr. Paxton’s argument is, Under section 47.02 of the Penal Code, a person commits an offense … Continue reading →

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