News

The internet was abuzz these past few weeks over a controversial tax that came out of California – a “Texting Tax.” The California Public Utilities Commission proposed a tax that assessed a fee for texting that would add a fee onto Taxpayers' wireless bills.

Co-Founder of Bryson Law Firm, LLC, Cary B. Bryson, was recently recognized as an Acadiana Kingfish in the 2018 October/November issue of Acadiana Profile Magazine. The magazine’s Kingfish section acknowledges accomplished businessman of Acadiana who give more to others than to themselves. A Kingfish is known for being generous, durable and unflinching in character.

Louisiana House Bill 650 and Act 687, which recently won approval during the 2018 regular session, makes families who pay tuition to K-12 schools eligible for a federal tax break by allowing families to open and use “START K12” savings accounts.

Louisiana Taxpayers affected by the 2016 floods should consider reviewing the tax returns they filed for that year.

In 2014, the IRS created the current Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). This program was set up to allow Taxpayers with foreign financial accounts and assets to come forward voluntarily so that they could mitigate the risk of potential criminal liability and civil penalties due to willful failure to report foreign financial assets. This program has now been set to sunset on September 28, 2018.

In light of the new tax law changes, the IRS is encouraging Taxpayers to perform a “Paycheck Checkup” via their new Withholding Calculator tool to ensure that the appropriate amount of taxes are being withheld from their paychecks.

Owe the IRS Back Taxes? Prepare to Owe Them Even More. Does the IRS Owe You? Prepare to See a Larger Refund: IRS Interest Rates on Overpayments and Underpayments are Increasing!

At Bryson Law Firm, LLC, we frequently represent Taxpayers through IRS Audits. One common issue we find when a Taxpayer comes in with an IRS Audit Letter and a copy of their 1040 Tax Return prepared by a paid preparer is that the tax return was incorrectly prepared, generated an inflated tax refund, and was designated as “self-prepared.”

Under 26 USC 71: Alimony and Separate Maintenance Payments, “gross income includes amounts received as alimony or separate maintenance payments.” With the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, this alimony deduction is eliminated on all divorces entered into after 2018.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC/EIC) is a tax credit aimed to benefit low to moderate income families, especially those with children.