The IRS has been using third party collection agencies for a little over a year to collect back taxes. This blog will tell you who these agencies are and what to expect. The IRS uses ONLY these FOUR agencies to collect against you. If someone other than these four...

There are a multitude of ways that you can lower your AGI during the tax year so that when you do file your taxes, you may owe less. Contribute to a Health Savings AccountPay student loan interest and claim those payments on your returnContribute to your...

The Taxpayer Advocate, a division of the IRS, has issued a new report recently stating various ways in which the IRS could improve customer service and other areas. Before we talk about those, what is a taxpayer advocate anyway? There are multiple Taxpayer Advocate...

The 2017 tax legislation changed the rules on the rehabilitation credit for historic building owners. Form 3468 is the proper form to claim the credit. You get 20% of the qualifying costs for rehabilitating the buildingThe cost of buying the structure is not included...

The IRS requires taxpayers to report cash transactions over 10k. If it is in the form of a deposit or wire transfer to the bank, the IRS will automatically get a report of it from the financial institution. If the transaction is legitimate, such as a loan or for a...

The IRS has special rules for military personnel when they prepare their taxes and here is a summary of those rules. Combat pay is excluded. You do not have to report that income from a designated combat zone. Postpone tax deadlines: If you are serving in a combat...

The brand new 1040 form both simplifies your return, but also complicates it in the sense that there are six new schedules that take the place of line items that used to be on the two page return. This article is mostly about what those six new schedules are. You...

I’ve discussed the perils of using the wrong tax preparer before in a former blog, but I wanted to reiterate it today because I know there is a lot of news out there regarding refunds and taxpayers getting a smaller refund than normal. The writers of this...

I discussed earlier the new 20% deduction for businesses under 199A https://cothlaw.com/cothlaw-blog/new-business-deduction-20-of-qualified-business-income-may-be-available-to-you/ The rental real estate enterprise business is something that touches a lot of...

Happy New Year! Well, the good news according to news sources is that you will still get your refunds when you file your return, but the bad news is just about everything else. I would suggest that if you owe taxes and are on a payment plan, you should still continue...