Taxes

Awakening the Heroes Within

In January 2006, when the 29-year old Blake MyCoskie vacationed in Argentina, he discovered the “alpargatas,” a canvas shoe worn by Argentine farmers.  He also noticed the extreme poverty and lack of shoes (particularly for children).   Inspired, he reminisced on this inspiration in a 2011 article for The Business Insider saying “….the intense pockets of […]

Last Minute Year End Tax Tips

As the year draws to a close, here are a few last-minute tax tips

Taxlish

As a long-time tax preparer, I have learned that there is a special language sometimes used in dealing with the IRS. I call this language “Taxlish.” I am not encouraging the use of this language, because it can lead to problems in an IRS audit examination, but I have assembled a Lexicon that translates common […]

I bought a house – what do I deduct?

I recently wrote this letter to a client of mine who purchased a house and wanted to know what to deduct: Q:  I bought a house – what do I deduct? A:  “Dear Andrew… Congratulations on your home purchase.   Your home mortgage interest and property taxes are tax-deductible so you are now going to be […]

Avoiding an IRS audit (part 2 of 2)

Beating the computer and avoiding an IRS audit: (Read Part 1 Here) List a Conservative Occupation Right next to your signature you are requested to list your occupation. Some occupations attract conservative and law-abiding individuals, who help keep the DIF score low for everyone who lists that occupation on their 1040. From accountants, auditors, bank […]

Avoiding an IRS audit (part 1 of 2)

The first defense against an IRS audit is to avoid them in the first place – and knowing how IRS audits are triggered in the first place can equip you to take steps to avoid them. The secret IRS program The IRS runs a top-secret computer program (the “discriminate income function” or DIF) that analyzes the millions of […]