ARTICLES

Tax planning is essential for two very important reasons.  The first reason is to ensure you take advantage of opportunities BEFORE the year is over.  The second is that you are informed well in advance of April 15th of what your...

A big issue facing business owners today is determining if an individual should be hired as an employee or as an independent contractor. The government does not take this issue lightly. Misclassifying workers as independent contractors can result...

Whenever you sell business or investment property and you have a gain, you generally have to pay tax on the gain at the time of sale. IRC Section 1031 provides an exception and allows you to postpone paying tax on the gain if you reinvest the...

The federal government is expanding its crackdown on offshore tax evasion and preparing numerous criminal cases against suspected offenders. It has been four years since the agreement between the United States and Switzerland pierced a veil of...

If you are as concerned about the financial implications of the recent tax law changes as the majority of our clients are, then I hope you take a few minutes to read over our summary of the significant developments of the American Taxpayer Relief...

Previously Illinois created the Small Business Jobs Creation Tax Credit that was a pilot program created to help reverse the trend of high unemployment in Illinois and to help spur the economy to recovery, by assisting and encouraging small...

Rumors are circulating that all real estate transactions, including sales of personal residences, will be subject to a new 3.8 percent federal sales tax beginning in 2013. These rumors are false. The rumors resurfaced after the Supreme Court upheld...

Sometimes the IRS gives you a second chance. That was the case in a private letter ruling the IRS issued to an unnamed partnership. But remember that private letter rulings cannot be cited as authority for anyone other than the taxpayer to whom it...

Shareholders or employees of a corporation often lend it funds - expecting to be repaid. If the loan does not get repaid, a bad debt deduction can be claimed. However, the tax treatment is different for "business" bad debts and "nonbusiness" bad...

As demonstrated in several recent court cases, the IRS is taking an aggressive position in issues involving valuations of noncash charitable contributions. Rather than challenging the value placed on the asset, the IRS is challenging whether the...

An obscure provision of the income tax law denies all business deductions to anyone whose business involves trafficking in a controlled substance.  Few people agree that it would be good public policy to allow drug dealers a tax deduction for...