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In today’s day and age, there are many options available to help prepare your taxes. Many people rely on “canned” software to easily and cheaply get their returns completed. But is this the right way to go? The United States Tax Code has become increasingly complicated over the years. Between 1955 and the present, the Tax Code increased from 409,000 words to more than 2.4 million words. This is double what existed after the major tax reform of 1985. There are over 60,000 pages of tax-related cases in the US court system records. In 2014, the number of taxpayers paying

As year end approaches, I want to remind you once again that now is the time to get ready for the tax season -- for us and you. We're prepping now by staffing up, training and getting organizers out to clients. You can prep too. One of the first things you should do is perform an overall financial checkup. The end of the year is always a good time to assess your current financial situation and plan for the future. You should think about cash flow, health care, retirement, investment and estate planning. Check wills, powers of attorney and health

Caring for our children and grandchildren and ensuring they receive a good education are paramount issues for most of us. However cumbersome the IRS tax code might be, there are some bright spots recently added and possibly disappearing to help us make sure we're providing both in an effective tax-oriented manner. Let us take a look at a couple. ABLE Recently, most states have finalized a new option for those with special needs children. The ABLE accounts provide an individual way to fund the future care of a loved one who is disabled by providing them with tax free funds,

A large majority of the future workforce will attend college at some point. Unfortunately, a college education is far from cheap. Many students attending college are taking on debt or, if they are lucky, finding scholarships to help defray the ever-increasing costs. Thanks to our tax code, most taxpayers are afforded some small deductions for those costs in the way of tuition deduction credit ($2,500 annual maximum credit) and student loan interest deduction ($2,500 annual maximum deduction). For most people, that is where the focus stops, but not for the Internal Revenue Service. The receipt of scholarship funds could be

As elected officials continue to debate how to fix the tax code, we all know that what is best is often not what gets put onto the books by Washington. All too often bills and ideas start with the greatest of intention – but the end product is not what was planned. So how do we fix what many Americans think is a broken tax system? A lot of people have ideas that have been presented. Does the European nation have a better plan? Is a national sales tax (or VAT style tax) the answer? Based on the most recent

We continue our series on proper tax planning this month by switching over and looking into the 179D deduction and R&D tax credits for business available under the current tax regulations. Consumers are concerned more and more about the environment and are being selective with their purchases to prove it. Businesses that have realized this can use the Section 179D regulations to their advantage. By taking steps to improve their systems or to make their products more energy efficient or green (and thereby enticing the consumer to buy their products), they are eligible to earn tax credit under Section 179D. The

The Boston Bruins made history recently, but not on the ice. The Tax Court recently ruled in favor of the team as they argued with the Internal Revenue Service that the meals provided to its players at hotels while playing “away games” should qualify as non-taxable fringe benefits. The tax code allows for an employer to provide its employees with meals on its premises while the employee is working (or directly before or after working) and exclude the cost of those meals from the employee’s taxable income. Furthermore, the cost of these meals would then be 100% deductible for the