Nobody likes paying taxes, and it makes sense to do what you can to minimize your overall tax burden as long as you aren’t violating any laws. If you are a business owner or are thinking about becoming one, you will want to determine if your business is a tax shelter. A tax shelter business is any business that reports losses, which helps offset taxes. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of rules and regulations in Read More

When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed, people from every political persuasion had something to say about it. While there has been endless debate about whether the new tax laws are a good or bad thing, the reality is that it has now gone into place. When filing your 2018 taxes this year and next year’s 2019 taxes, you need to know about the new tax brackets and how they will impact your finances. This blog post Read More

If you have been charged with an antitrust crime, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that several of the existing antitrust laws specifically were created to be subject to interpretation. This allows the judge to examine all the facts of your unique case on its own, and what may have happened in one case doesn’t necessarily apply to yours (although it may be a factor). The bad news is that not all of Read More

IRS tax audits are a major hassle. They can cost you a lot of money, take a lot of time, and cause a lot of stress. While the IRS chooses many of their audits randomly, a large number of audits are targeted based on specific factors related to people’s tax returns and other behaviors. Learning some of the different reasons that the IRS will trigger an audit will help you minimize the risk that you will be audited Read More

If you have been charged with a crime, there are many ways that you can handle the issue. While most people think about going to court, presenting their case, and hoping that the judge or jury rules in their favor, that is actually not how most cases are resolved. For many cases, including white-collar cases, the defendant will engage in a plea bargain with the prosecuting attorney. This is where you come to an Read More

(Directly from the Internal Revenue Service) Just a quick note to update you on changes made by the IRS for the Identity Protection Pin (IP PIN). The IRS has expanded eligibility for its IP PIN test program to taxpayers in the top 10 locations where identity thefts are reported to the Federal Trade Commission. The locations are the original three test sites (Washington, D.C., Florida and Georgia) plus seven new Read More

Most dislike being audited by the IRS. Not only can it potentially cost a lot of money in taxes, penalties and interest, but it is a big hassle even if the IRS does not make any changes. While it is impossible to avoid all risk of an IRS audit, there are things you can do to reduce the risk of having to go through this experience. Review Your Business Entity Status If you are a business owner, you will want to Read More

One of the most common forms of white-collar crime is embezzlement. At its core, embezzlement is a crime of a violation of trust more than anything else. In order to be classified as embezzlement, the person committing the crime must have legal access to the property or other assets that they took. Where their actions become criminal is that they take the assets that they have access to and use it for their own Read More

If you have a dispute with the IRS, it may make it all the way up to the US Tax Court. This is the court where you as the taxpayer file a lawsuit against the IRS saying that what the IRS claimed in its audit was incorrect and that your claims are valid. The US Tax Court is unlike most courts in that it doesn’t determine guilt or innocence, but simply resolves a disagreement between the IRS and a taxpayer. Learning Read More

If you have been notified by the courts that you need to come in to testify as a witness to a crime or other event, you need to take it very seriously. Many people make the mistake of assuming that speaking as a witness is a minor task that can’t really cause any problems. The reality is, however, that witnesses have a variety of obligations to the court, and if you don’t meet them, it can cause serious legal Read More