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In September of 2016, the IRS announced that it would start using private debt collectors to recover certain overdue federal tax debts in the spring of 2017. To implement this new program, the IRS contracted with four private collection agencies: CBE Group, Conserve, Performant, and Pioneer. In carrying out their collection efforts, these four companies are required to respect taxpayer rights and obey the consumer protection regulations established in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
How does this new program work?
Considering the continual mail and phone scams that keep emerging, the IRS Commissioner warned taxpayers to be alert for new scams related to this program. When a taxpayer’s account is transferred to a private debt collection agency, the IRS will give the taxpayer written notice of the transfer. In addition, the private collection agency will then send a second, separate letter to the taxpayer verifying this transfer. The private collection agency will not ask for payments to be made on a prepaid debit card or for checks to be made out to the collection agency. All checks should be made payable to the U.S. Treasury. The IRS emphasized that even with private debt collection, taxpayers should not be receiving phone calls from the IRS insisting on immediate payment. The IRS always mails multiple collection notices before making phone calls.
There are several types of accounts that the IRS will not transfer to private collection agencies. Some of these accounts include taxpayers who are deceased, in designated combat zones, victims of identity theft, or in presidentially declared disaster areas and requesting relief from collection. If a taxpayer does not want to work with a private collection agency appointed to his or her account, he or she must notify the private collection agency in writing. Also, the IRS urges taxpayers who are unsure if they have unpaid taxes due from a previous year to check their account balances on www.irs.gov/balancedue.
For more information on private debt collection visit the Private Debt Collection page on the IRS website.
On May 11, 2017, the Tax Court issued a Memorandum Decision (TC Memo 2017-79) that addressed, among other things, the Taxpayer arguing that the software “lured” him into claiming too many deductions on his tax return.
There were a number of issues on this return that caught the eye of the IRS: alimony paid deduction, interest deduction, and deduction for other expenses. When examined by the IRS, the Taxpayer did not have much in the way of paperwork to support his positon for the deductions reported.
In addition to disallowing the majority of the deductions taken, the Taxpayer was assessed an accuracy related penalty for substantial understatement of income tax. For this penalty, the burden shifts to the Taxpayer to show that his mistakes were reasonable and in good faith. “He admitted during trial that he deducted items he shouldn’t have, and that he overstated certain losses. He tried to blame TurboTax for his mistakes, but tax preparation software is only as good as the information one inputs into it,” the Court concluded.
Tax preparation software must be used correctly to be useful for purposes of showing reasonable cause and good faith as a defense to accuracy related penalties. The majority of court cases have rejected this defense.
It is the taxpayer’s responsibility to review the output as well as the input when using tax software. Remember the old adage: Garbage In Garbage Out.
When preparing your return, ensure you are reviewing the return before filing it. I just received a phone call this week from someone that was asking if his tax software was properly calculating the tax on rental property he had sold. A first for him. I commend him for wanting to understand what he was filing.
Remember: You can’t blame the software!
Right before this year’s tax deadline, the IRS put out a release reminding people that some of us may not have to ask for an extension. While this advice is coming a bit late from me for the current tax year, it is definitely something to keep in mind. 
As the IRS notes “Taxpayers in Presidentially-declared disaster areas, members of the military serving in a combat zone and Americans living and working abroad get extra time to both file their returns and pay any taxes due.”
If you are a taxpayer in a disaster area you will often have extended time to file and pay. These extensions of time also apply to other tax-related items like contributing to an IRA. The IRS states that generally any area given a disaster declaration by FEMA is provided this relief, which is extended to relief workers, businesses and anyone who has their tax records located in the disaster area.
If you are a member of the military or eligible support personnel serving in a combat zone you will have at least 180 days after you leave the combat zone to file your tax returns and pay your taxes. As with the disaster relief, this extension also pertains to other tax-related items like contributing to your IRA. The IRS suggest checking Publication 3, Armed Forces’ Tax Guide, for further details.
For U.S. citizens and resident aliens who are living and working outside the United States and Puerto Rico, you have until June 15, 2017 (for the current tax year) to file your return and pay any taxes due. This also applies for military members on duty outside the U.S. who do not qualify for the combat zone extension. The IRS does note two items with this category of extended filing: 1) Attach a statement with your return explaining which situation applies for you; and 2) interest still applies to payments received after the standard filing deadline (generally April 15). See Publication 54 for more information.
For everyone else, just remember to ask for more time by filing Form 4868.
A trust can be set up for a multitude of purposes in various forms and of course there are tax consequences, with which a Reno CPA can assist you. There are many moving parts with trust taxation, but simplistically nongrantor trusts must file a federal tax return of which the highest income tax rate is assessed on incomes over $12,400, as opposed to a single person with this threshold over $415,050.
Various state income taxes can also be assessed by merely having a trustee in a state like California or Colorado, even if the beneficiary lives in another state that doesn’t impose personal or trust income taxes like Nevada. These states consider the trust to be a resident trust in that state as the trust is administered in that state by having the trustee located there.
As you can probably guess, California’s trust taxes can be quite onerous. The trust tax rate can reach 12.3% of taxable income. Combined with the federal tax rate of 39.6% and the additional tax on investment income to pay for the Affordable Care Act of 3.8%, a California trust could be taxed at up to 55.7%!
This 12.3% California trust tax can easily be avoided by choosing a trustee that resides in the state of Nevada, even if the beneficiary lives in California. A trustee can be a trusted family member, banker, attorney or a CPA. For any trust related tax questions the Reno CPAs at Barnard Vogler can help sort through the regulations.
The IRS is warning that con artists are using video relay services (VRS) as a way of potentially scamming deaf and hard of hearing individuals. It appears these bad actors are using VRS just like many of the other phone and email scams that are constantly being reported. 
These people will call claiming to be from the IRS and demand payment of a tax debt or say that the taxpayer is due a refund. Simply, these scammers are looking for personal information. As always, do not give out personal and financial information to anyone you do not know and confirm that the person requesting information really is who they claim to be. The IRS adds that people should not assume they can trust VRS calls as VRS interpreters do not screen calls for validity.
As listed on IRS.gov, the IRS will never:
If a deaf or hard of hearing individual suspects they received one of these calls, they should call the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) at 800-366-4484. The IRS now accepts calls from all type of relay services whether they are federal, state or private relay providers. The IRS also has YouTube videos in American Sign Language (ASL) with a listing that can be found here. A YouTube video in ASL about this VRS scam is also available.
It’s that time of year again, that time when you have to file your tax returns. It is also the time of year where the scammers come out of the woodwork to try to steal your money and/or identity. 
Scammers will try many different things to get information from you, with the list below a selection of the some of the most common ones for 2017 (so far).
These are just a few scams of the many that are out there. Educate yourself by going to IRS.gov and report any phishing emails to
We all know how it goes – as soon as the New Year begins the tax forms begin filling up your mailbox. Just another year to throw the 1099s and W-2s in a pile and ship them off to your accountant just in time to throw a return together and be done with it. 
Many people see tax time as a necessary evil which they grin and bear their way through the steps in order to get it done and over with. If you are one of these people you may benefit from doing things a little different this year and seeing where it gets you.
There are many benefits to paying attention during your tax filing process if you have never cared or take the time to understand before. It doesn’t matter whether you are a wealthy business owner or just a normal guy or gal working for your paycheck – a good CPA can help you get the most benefit not only tax wise but possibly financially as well. Taking time with your tax preparer to understand the why’s and how’s can open your eyes to things you may be able to do differently to better your tax or financial position in the future. If your accountant does not have your best interest at heart then find a new one because a good accountant takes a personal interest in their clients and wants to see them do as well as absolutely possible. A good accountant will not only be able to prepare your tax return to its fullest potential but they are able to advise you on future moves and desires.
This year, make a resolution to spend some time with your accountant, learn something new, and solidify the relationship. Having a trusted advisor as opposed to a tax preparer on your team will take you a long way and be worth every penny.
Having a baby is such a wonderful blessing, but along with the tremendous amount of joy comes a large amount of new expenses. The federal government offers a number of tax breaks to help parents save money on their tax bill.
For 2016, you can claim a $4,050 exemption by adding your child as a dependent. This will reduce the amount of income which you will be taxed on. This is not a prorated amount, meaning that you qualify for the entire amount no matter what time of the year the child was born. For example, a married couple with one child would qualify for three exemptions, even if that baby was born in December of the year.
There is a phase-out on the dependent exemption that applies once your adjusted gross income exceeds $259,400 for single filers, $285,350 for head of household, $155,650 for married filing separately, and $311,300 for married couples filing jointly in 2016.
The child tax credit provides a credit of $1,000. A credit is different than a deduction in that it reduces the amount of the tax bill dollar for dollar compared to a deduction that reduces the amount of income you are being taxed on.
There is a phase-out for the child tax credit which starts when your income is above $110,000 for married couples filing jointly, $75,000 for single filers and head of household, or $55,000 for married filing separately.
The child care credit provides a credit for the costs you pay for a qualifying individual while you and your spouse, if you are married filing jointly, work or look for work.
The dollar limit on the amount of the expenses you can use to figure the credit is $3,000 for the care of one child under age thirteen or $6,000 for two or more children under age thirteen. The amount of your credit is between 20-35 percent of your allowable expenses. There is not a complete phase-out for this credit, but the credit decreases as the amount of income increases. Families with an adjusted gross income of $43,000 or more will only be able to take 20% of allowable expenses.
The 12 days of tax planning countdown- for web
With the year coming to an end, it is important to start getting your books in order to have them ready to close, and get a head start on filing your tax return. It is important to know that for the upcoming year, many due dates have changed for 2016 returns, and will be changed going forward.
Here are a few of those dates that have changed for the upcoming filing season. Additional guidance can be found on the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) website:
• Partnerships with a calendar year end will have a new due date of March 15th, and the extension date remains as September 15th. Fiscal year partnership returns are due on the 15th day of the 3rd month after year end, and a six month extension is allowed from that date.
• Trusts and Estates Form 1041 will have the same filing date of April 15th, but the new extension date is now September 30th.
• Exempt organizations will have the same filing date of May 15th, but with a single automatic 6-month extension of November 15th.
• FinCEN Report 114 will have a new due date of April 15th, with a new extension date of October 15th.
• Information returns including W-2 and most 1099 MISC forms will be due to the IRS/SSA on January 31st. This is the same date that they are due to the taxpayer. All other 1099 forms are due February 28th or March 31st if filed electronically.
• C Corporations have different rules for the upcoming years depending on when the year end is:
C Corporations with a calendar year end will have a new due date of April 15th with an extension date of September 15th.
C Corporations with a fiscal year end return other than December 31st and June 30th will be due on the 15th of the 4th month after the year end with an extension on the 15th of the 10th month after year end.
C Corporations with a June 30th fiscal year end will have a due date of September 15th with a new extension due date of April 15th.
It is important to be aware of these new filing dates since this will effect many entity returns in the upcoming filing season.
