Did former President Trump unleash the IRS on political foes Jim Comey and Andrew McCabe? The question is back in the news. Trump’s former Chief of Staff, General John Kelly, says Trump demanded the FBI Commissioners be punished with audits. Read more>>
November 16, 2022
For individuals (rather than businesses), there are two types of bankruptcy. Chapter 7 bankruptcy allows debtors to wipe out most existing debt, but there are strict income thresholds to qualify. Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a debt repayment agreement for higher-income people, that may or may not result in some of their debt being discharged at the end of the five year repayment plan. This blog overviews the basics of Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy. Read more>>
November 11, 2022
Most people don’t know that the IRS is broken into two, almost separate halves: the Assessment Division and the Collections Division. So what? Who cares about the IRS’s Org Chart? You should care. Because that division has a lot of implications for taxpayers. Read more>>
October 25, 2022
Rising real estate prices create tax problems for owners selling property. While it’s great to sell at high prices, it’s also discouraging to pay big capital gains taxes on the proceeds. That “gain” – the difference between sales proceeds and the adjusted basis in the property (the amount paid for it originally) can be deferred with Section 1031 exchanges. But the rules are complex. Read more>>
October 12, 2022
You just received a notice from the IRS that you’re being audited. I’m sorry: it’s a stressful experience. But, now that you’re in it, here are the most important things to keep in mind. Read more>>
September 29, 2022
For many people, going through bankruptcy turns out to be the one of the best things they’ve ever done. So much so, it makes them blissful to recount why…. Read more>>
September 9, 2022
There’s no shortage of bureaucratic bungling and ineptitude by the IRS. My problem isn’t coming up with stupidities from the IRS, it’s choosing which one to feature because the Tax Trolls are so busy coming up with hijinks and shenanigans. Read more>>
August 23, 2022
California increased the home equity people going through bankruptcy could keep in 2020: from $175,000 to $600,000, specifically so debtors wouldn’t lose their house in bankruptcy. It mostly works. Except with houses that have IRS tax liens on them. Read more>>
August 10, 2022
The IRS’s enforcement priorities often appear – well – insane. Consider the cases of two current clients: one client owes the IRS $900,000, and the IRS thinks the other client owes $6,000 from a IRA distribution he took the year of the Woolsey Fire. We’re disputing the $6,000: Congress relaxed the rules for people in the disaster zone. Who’s the IRS going after? My client who had to evacuate from his house with the $9,000 tax bill. Huh? Seriously? Read more>>
July 25, 2022
I was a tax attorney at the IRS for a decade. So you know I’ve been all over the fascinating story that the IRS recently subjected former FBI Directors James Comey and Andrew McCabe to its most invasive NRP audit. Comey and McCabe were famously fired and publicly abused by former President Trump. Suspicious minds now wonder whether IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, a Trump appointee, ordered the audits on these two men as a form of political retribution. Very unlikely. Here’s why. Read more>>
July 11, 2022
