by admin | Feb 2, 2016 | Tax
Who gets dependency exemptions for children should not be really hard. They default to the custodial parent, which granted is not always apparent, but usually is. If the non-custodial parent wants the deduction, he (and it usually is “he”) needs a Form...
by admin | Apr 13, 2014 | Tax
Originally published on Forbes.com April 13th, 2014 If you are a non-custodial parent claiming one of your kids as a dependent, do you have Form 8332 (Release of Claim to Exemption) signed by the custodial parent and attached to your return? If you don’t, as...
by admin | Jan 2, 2013 | Tax
I sometimes wonder if the Tax Court would have to lay off a judge or two, if it were not for dependency cases. Maybe not, as I imagine that they blow through them pretty quickly and almost invariably come up with the same unfair result. I feel really bad for...
by admin | Feb 4, 2011 | Tax
Originally published on Passive Activities and Other Oxymorons on February 4th, 2011.____________________________________________________________________________ Michael F. Wesner v. Commissioner, TC Summary Opinion 2011-5 Here is some advice for the about to be...
by admin | Apr 3, 2021 | Tax
We can hope when the plague is over that IRS will not worry too much about who was actually entitled to a qualifying child so they can fight crime somewhere else. But it is too much to hope for. I foresee the Tax Court being clogged with stimulus related qualifying...
by admin | Jul 13, 2011 | Tax
Originally Published on forbes.com on July 13th, 2011 ______________________________________ One of the items typically addressed in divorce agreements, is allocation of the dependency deduction. I think it generally gets more attention than it deserves based on the...
by admin | Sep 1, 2010 | Tax
Gratisography at Pexels This was originally published on PAOO on September 1st, 2010. I’ve told a couple of sad stories of damsels in distress who the Tax Court couldn’t help. Well here’s hoping for a little schadenfreude for Caron...
by admin | Apr 25, 2014 | Tax
Originally published on Forbes.com April 25th, 2014 I usually like it when people win in Tax Court without using attorneys. It doesn’t happen that often. The latest I’ve noted is the case of Rodney Harris. Mr. Harris was facing tax and penalty just over...
by admin | Nov 27, 2021 | Tax
Failure to understand the subtle differences in different sorts of tax entities can lead to disastrous results. Sometimes you can plead with the IRS and they will provide a deus ex machina that will avert the disaster. PLR 202142003 is an example of that sort of IRS...
by admin | Mar 10, 2021 | Tax
Divorced and never married co-parents have the chance to pick up an extra $1,100 per dependent child when they file their 2020 returns. It requires trust, cooperation and running multiple versions of their 2020 returns. It is probably not what Congress intended when...
by admin | Mar 7, 2021 | Tax
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, “the Biden stimulus package” is not law, as I write this. It seems very likely to pass though and some people may want to take action in anticipation of it. That would be filing your 2020 federal income tax return...
by admin | Jan 1, 2018 | Tax
Originally published on Forbes.com. As another year closes I will review the top tax stories of 2017 – the ones that I wrote about that is. It is kind of a people’s choice thing, so some of the stories might be from earlier years, but people were still...
by admin | Dec 30, 2017 | Tax
Originally published on Forbes.com. I was gloating on Facebook about how good the coverage of the Tax Cuts And Jobs Act is on this platform . I was not just patting myself on the back. As I write this my covivant and business partner is listening to Tony...
by admin | Dec 22, 2013 | Tax
Originally published on Forbes.com. I think that it is intuitively obvious that divorce is a major source of stress. I do not need to supplement the assertion with further research. Go ahead and google “divorce stress” and pick from the numerous articles...
by admin | Nov 1, 2013 | Tax
Originally published on Forbes.com Nov 1st, 2013 You can do a lot more to affect your tax liability for the year in November and December than you can in April of the following year. Often you will have enough information to do a pretty good mock-up of your return,...
