Martin Cantu, EA - Tax Consultant - Tax Relief Services Blog

The IRS recently announced how it handle same-sex marriages as a result of the Supreme Court cases interpreting the Defense of Marriage Act. Here are a few bullet points on the IRS position. Keep in mind that as with all IRS rules and regulations, this new pronouncement is a two edge sword. That is to say, you may have reporting errors if you don't follow the rules. Ironically, this aspect of the new position is truly Equal Opportunity and Equal Treatment - be careful of what you want as you might get it! Here are the point: 1.   Under these new rules, same-sex marriages that are valid in the state where they were performed will be recognized for all federal tax purposes, even if the couple is domiciled in a state that does not recognize their marriage.  2.   These rules apply to income taxes, estate and gift taxes and payroll taxes related to employee benefits. 3. Here is an example of "gotcha" from Uncle Sam - As a result, beginning with the 2013 tax y

Sometimes events coincide and you have one of those "Ah ha" moments. Well, I had last week. Let's set the scene. Recently the IRS launched an initiative against small business where the IRS questions if the small business has reported all of their income. The IRS sends out letters with the heading "Notification of Possible Income Under reporting."  It notifies the business owner "your gross receipts may be under reported" and says they must complete a form "to explain why the portion of your gross receipts from non-card payments appears unusually low." The Forbes article goes into more detail about the initiative, and the response from the business community . This on the heels of a report that the IRS is using social media as a way to monitor the spending habits of suspected tax cheats. Now the third leg of the stool - I spoke with a colleague recently who recounted how the Texas Comptroller's Office BART unit instigated a sal

Hey Eagle Ford workers - don't let the IRS garnish your paychecks! Taking action now - not later - right now, insures that you can keep more of that hard earned overtime dollars. The IRS does not care how many hours you put in or that it was over 100 degrees while you were putting in your time. Here are a couple of things that we can do to help - so keep them in mind: 1. While we can't stop the garnishment immediately, I can have the IRS fax your payroll office a notice to stop the garnishment. 2. The IRS will issue this notice as soon as you've entered into a payment agreement. 3. You must file any back year tax returns before you can enter into an installment agreement. We deal with this all of the time and have a plan of action for you to take care of this issue painlessly. The biggest service we provide to you is getting this huge gorilla off your back. The sooner you act, the sooner you can begin to enjoy more of your paycheck. Call San Antonio Tax Attorn

#IRS #Taxes #TexasComptroller We're seeing a number of clients having problems with the Texas Comptrollers Office for state due on businesses that were shut down years ago. While the taxpayer may have viewed the business as shut down, the Comptroller did not. What starts out small grows huge - if only our 401k's grew as fast. The scenario is something like this: 1. Business incorporates and obtains a sales tax permit. 2. Business goes kaput, is shut down, but corporation and sales permit stay active. 3. No reports filed - the Comptroller prepares substitute returns for a couple of years. 4. Taxpayer moves, ignores certified mail from the comptroller, summons, etc. Judgment is taken, including the substituted returns where no actual sales are made. 5. Taxpayer finds out about the judgment years later, after the debt has grown ten-fold. 6. Comptroller refuses to negotiate on the amount due, leaving you between a rock an a hard place - an not able to get that house

Members of the U.S. Armed Forces receive several tax benefits. Special tax rules apply to military members on active duty, including those serving in combat zones. These rules can help lower your federal taxes and make it easier to file your tax return. Here are ten of those benefits: 1.  Deadline Extensions.   Qualifying military members, including those who serve in a combat zone, can postpone some tax deadlines.  2.  Combat Pay Exclusion.  If you serve in a combat zone, you can exclude certain combat pay from your income.  3.  Earned Income Tax Credit.  You can choose to include nontaxable combat pay as earned income to figure your EITC.  4.  Moving Expense Deduction.   If you move due to a permanent change of station, you may be able to deduct some of your unreimbursed moving costs. 5.  Uniform Deduction.  You can deduct the costs and upkeep of certain uniforms that regulations prohibit you from wearing while off duty. You must reduce your expe

Here are three tips from the IRS Audit front line: 1. Business Owners, reconcile your total bank deposits with reported income. This is request number one on the auditor's list. Help yourself out and have this list ready when you receive your audit notice by making it part of your tax return supporting documents. 2. Travel Logs - use a calendar, excel spreadsheet and a mapping tool such as Google Maps to document regular trips and the distance per Google maps. This is an easy sign off by the auditor. 3. Credit Cards - the best comment I heard from an auditor is to treat credit cards like another bank account. Account for each charge as a separate item. Not all charges may be deductible, just like a business bank account. Hope this give you a heads up on your tax return and audit planning. Have questions on your return or IRS audit? Contact tax attorney Martin Cantu .

Great article in the Austin American Statesman about an IRS whistle-blower and his attempts to point out the huge cost to taxpayers on ITIN numbers. The article is chock full information on a number of items - the ITIN program itself; how fraudsters and maybe even drug cartels are using loopholes costing taxpayers huge amounts of money; how the whistle-blower process works. But in light of the ongoing Tea Party fiasco, the more interesting thing is how the IRS works on a personal level. I often tell clients that no two tax cases are the same, primarily because the IRS seems to have different "tracks" to handle cases.  Their computer systems handles cases differently. Add the human touch, and you the process gets even trickier. This article describes how IRS workers are evaluated and how one case can get lost in a volume of cases. This is great example of why its sometimes best to "kick the can down the road". The two examples also explain why a number of othe