Houston Tax Attorney Keith Cothroll words to live by.
Lowering your AGI can help you reduce what you owe
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...
SURPRISE! The Taxpayer Advocate says the IRS is bad at customer service
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...
Historic Building Owners May Qualify For a Rehab Credit
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...
Reporting Cash Payments over 10K
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...
Special Tax Rules for Military Personnel
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...
Understanding the new 1040 form for 2018
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...
The mousetrap of refunds during tax season. When choosing the wrong tax preparer can really hurt 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...
Can you take advantage of the new 199A 20% deduction if you have a rental real estate business?
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...
What is the IRS doing now that we have a government shutdown??
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...
IRS has changed excess business and net operating losses
What is an excess business loss? To determine an excess business loss, you look to the extent that the total deductions from all trades or businesses exceed the total gross income and gains from those trades or businesses plus a certain amount depending on your...