News

If you owe tax balances on a Married Filing Jointly tax return, it’s important to pay attention to who is listed as the primary Taxpayer and who is listed as the Spouse to avoid an IRS headache.

You may recall from a previous blog post of ours that in 2022, the IRS would require that e-commerce platforms such as Venmo, CashApp, PayPal, and Etsy to report all earnings of $600 or more on “business transactions” – payments for the sale of goods or services (vs. personal transactions for which the law did not intend to track) to the IRS. However, the IRS has recently announced that it will not require these platforms send a Form 1099-K in 2023 for 2022 earnings.

Your ability to pay is something you need to understand when you’re trying to resolve your IRS tax liability.

There have been recent reports that some of the large, online tax preparation companies have sent sensitive client financial information to Meta – Facebook’s parent company – through Meta Pixel code, which allows users to track visitor activity on their website and is often used for advertising.

It’s December!  That means that we’re less than a month away from a New Year. Although this time of year can be extra busy due to the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it’s important that Taxpayers don’t forget to explore any final tax planning steps they may be able to take now to reduce their tax bill next April. Here are 4 quick tips for end-of-year tax planning.

We’re hearing about it more and more – cryptocurrency.  Digital currency, or “Virtual Currency”/”Digital Assets” as the IRS calls it, particularly cryptocurrency, is becoming a rather popular form of investment for Taxpayers and is also increasingly becoming a point of interest for the IRS.  The IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division has recently announced that cryptocurrency cases will top their criminal investigation “to-do” list in 2023.  Let’s take a closer look at the tax implications of cryptocurrency transactions and what Taxpayer can expect from the IRS when it comes to cryptocurrency moving forward. 

What can the IRS do when you have a tax problem?

The National Taxpayer Advocate has recently spoken about the IRS’ plan for resuming IRS collections notices.  As previously discussed on the Bryson Blog, the IRS suspended the mailing of many collections notices earlier this year due to IRS delays and backlogs.  At this time, the IRS is set to resume these notice efforts over an undisclosed amount of time.  These letters will be regarding outstanding balances, unfiled returns, intents to levy, and withholding compliance. 

As we have frequently discussed in blogs and podcast episodes, IRS Tax Resolution is extremely focused on each individual Taxpayer’s current financial situation. This enables us to custom-craft Case Plans for our Clients based on the particulars of what they can afford to pay the IRS.

When talking about calculating a Taxpayer’s current financial ability to pay the IRS, it is important to know that the IRS has “Collection Financial Standards” that they reference in negotiations. The IRS applies a “Necessary Expense Test” – considering expenses that are necessary to provide for a Taxpayer and their family’s health, welfare, and production of income – in analyzing the Taxpayer’s financials. The Internal Revenue Code (IRC 7122(d)(2)(A)) requires that the IRS have schedules of national and local allowances to ensure Taxpayers have an adequate means to provide for basic living expenses.

October is National Financial Planning Month.  While many of our blogs are based on the steps Taxpayers can take to address back tax issues, we also have many recommendations on tax planning strategies to be used throughout the year BEFORE tax time rolls around. Here’s a look at our top recommendations for Tax Planning this October.