Taxpayers who are involved in a case with IRS attorneys can now exchange sensitive information by email, if certain conditions are met. In an IRS Chief Counsel (CC) Notice, the CC added two encryption options their employees can use to transmit email containing return information or personally identifying information to taxpayers or their representatives. Before … Read More
What can you do if you learn that the IRS mailed your Economic Impact Payment (EIP) weeks ago but you never got it? If you haven’t received your EIP within 14 days of the payment date, the IRS says you should check its “Get My Payment” tool (https://bit.ly/3fuzSby ) periodically. If it receives your payment … Read More
If you have outstanding loans to your children, grandchildren or other family members, consider forgiving those loans to take advantage of the current, record-high $11.58 million gift and estate tax exemption. Bear in mind that in 2026, the exemption amount will revert to $5 million ($10 million for married couples), indexed for inflation. Under the right circumstances, an … Read More
The IRS recently noted that a representative payee is only responsible for managing Social Security (SS) benefits, and an Economic Impact Payment (EIP) isn’t such a benefit. The Social Security Administration (SSA) provides benefit payment management for individuals who are incapable of managing their SS or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments by appointing a suitable … Read More
Many small businesses continue to struggle in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Some have already closed their doors and are liquidating assets. Others, however, may have a relatively less onerous option: bankruptcy. Although bankruptcy obviously isn’t an optimal outcome for any small company, there may be a silver lining: A new bankruptcy law … Read More
Valuable tax credits are available to employers to help mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. But amid the chaos of the last few months, it may be hard to navigate the details of how to qualify for the credits. To help, the IRS has created a flowchart that explains the details of the Employer … Read More
Imagine this scenario: A company’s controller is hospitalized for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and she’s the only person inside the company who knows how its accounting and payroll software works. She also is the only person with check signing authority, besides the owner, who is in lockdown at his second home out of state. Meanwhile, … Read More
Many U.S. taxpayers don’t speak English well enough to understand their rights and responsibilities under tax law. That includes their eligibility for federal stimulus checks and other tax relief during the COVID-19 crisis. To reach as many people as possible, the IRS translates tax information into multiple languages. To get information in one of those … Read More
Financial statements aren’t particularly meaningful without a relevant basis of comparison. There are two types of “benchmarks” that a company’s financials can be compared to — its own historical performance and the performance of other comparable businesses. Before you conduct a benchmarking study, however, it’s important to make normalizing adjustments to avoid any misleading comparisons. … Read More
If you owe money to the IRS, a bill may be coming your way soon. As a result of office closures due to the COVID-19 crisis, the IRS had been unable to mail some previously printed “balance due” notices. But the notices will be delivered to taxpayers in the next few weeks as IRS operations … Read More