If you watch the news, you’ve probably heard that Americans have lost a great deal of trust in the federal government recently. A2013 survey by the Pew Research Centerfound that level of trust was nearing an all-time low. Fully 30 percent of the public reported being angry at the federal government, and an additional 55 […]

You may never have heard of a questionable refund, much less a program about them, but it’s real. The IRS’s Questionable Refund Program was created in 1977 to help identify tax returns containing red flags for potential criminal activity so that fraudulent returns won’t be paid. When a questionable refund detection team finds a suspicious […]

When individual or business taxpayers have civil disputes with the IRS, the first steps toward resolution are taken with the IRS directly. The ultimate result, however, may be a decision by the agency that the taxpayer believes is incorrect or unjust. If this has happened to you, you may be stuck with a large tax […]

Now that tax season is over, you may be in a position where you owe the tax man a little money. If you do, it might not surprise you to get a call or email from the IRS. It should. The IRS doesn’t do that. Unfortunately, many people don’t know that, but one tax attorney […]

As of this moment, 19 states have legalized medical marijuana. Moreover, four states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult possession of at least small amounts of marijuana. While cultivation and sales are still strictly regulated in most places, there’s a lot of money to be made in legalized pot — but no effective […]

Tax laws are very complex. Individuals can face serious penalties for failing to comply with tax laws in the United States. Certain tax regulations can be very surprising, especially if you are unaware of the tax consequences. It is important to understand common tax surprises now before you run into them in the future. Different […]

Plenty of Americans miss the tax deadline every year. Others file, only to discover they owe taxes and can’t afford to pay. If you’re one of them, unfortunately, you could end up owing tax penalties. For simplicity’s sake, let’s assume that you do owe federal taxes and this is the first time you’ve had trouble […]

Picture this: You’ve filed your federal income taxes via TurboTax and everything went fine. You’ve now received the document you were waiting for, and it’s time to file those state taxes. You log into TurboTax, and … your state taxes have mysteriously been e-filed. Is this a new free service? All the tax info looks […]

As we have discussed a couple of times in this blog, the IRS is dealing with significant budget cuts this year that have forced it to significantly shrink its workforce. Among other things, this will probably result in taxpayers receiving less reliable customer service when they have questions about their returns. Another change in IRS […]

No matter your attitude toward paying taxes to fund government programs, few people want to pay more in income taxes than they have to. With the proper advice and attention to the law, the average taxpayer should be able to find deductions to which they are entitled, and avoid an IRS audit. As ABC News […]