Thursday, 29 December 2022

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Tax Answers Advisor Transcript

Marcelino: Welcome to The Tax Answers Advisor. I am Marcelino Dodge, Enrolled Agent. So happy to have you joining us today, we have interesting quote from an unknown source. “A person doesn’t know how much he has to be thankful for, until he has to pay taxes on it.” Isn’t that so true? When we pay taxes on it, then all of a sudden we do become thankful for it. Also, sometimes we do complain too.

I do want to give a big shout out and thanks to all those listening to this podcast around the world, not just course here in the United States but like in China, Germany, Canada, Ireland and the Netherlands really appreciate you taking the time to listen to this program and get this information that’s so valuable. On the US taxes to help you to do even better on your tax return and of course the many, many areas that I talk about and how we assist you, not just with income tax, but with the overall financial success by taking a look at key indicators for you, please, please feel free to give me a call 844-394-4287.

Or of course you can visit my website which is Cash Tracks Financial, or email me, it’s success@cashtracksfinancial.com. You can also find us on Facebook. Well it’s been quite a week already. The President signed the COVID-19 Relief Bill, which we’ve heard a lot of information about it but perhaps a lot of areas have been ignored about it, we’re going to go ahead and discuss these items today. Before we get into why it is so important to be very careful on who you choose as your tax professional.

Yes, that is a vital need as we’re going preparing to go into the tax season we’re especially this year it’s going to be challenging, with all of the different items that are up, especially the items I’m going to bring out today that you really need a professional for to be able to help you out. Now notice here, the big item of course that is talked about is the recovery rebate credits that individuals are going to get $600 per individual $1200 for a married couple, and plus $600 per qualifying child and those phase out and higher incomes, just like the economic income payments did earlier this year.

Now also, since the tax returns for 2020 haven’t been filed yet, these payouts will be based on the 2019 tax returns, just as the initial payments were. Another part of this bill, back on the recovery rebate payments. Some of those are actually starting to already show up if you had direct deposit set up and you received the first set via direct deposit. Some people from what I’ve heard reports are already starting to have them are getting notices from their banks and if they didn’t get them today they may be showing up within the next few days. So certainly, that’s going to be a big help to a lot of people. Another area that’s going to be a big help to some are the unemployment benefits, there’s been that extension of $300 per week. That is going to continue beginning retroactively back to December 26th. And that’s going to be extended all the way up to March 14th.

Let’s have a good benefit for those who are in need of those extra unemployment benefits because of government shutdowns and being mandated for certain businesses to close or was it been laid off. So for those people who it’s going to be a very nice benefit as well. We also consider that back in August, the President signed an order that allowed for deferment of payroll taxes, but withholding, what would normally be withheld from an employee’s paycheck.

Well, what we need to keep in mind or we need to think about now is that those were originally to be repaid beginning between January and March of 2021. But now with this bill, that extension has been deferred until December 31st of 2021 for those payments of those deferred payroll taxes to be made, so that’s helps employees out for the few that are taken advantage of that. Personally, I didn’t recommend any of my employers do that because it could have ended up being a bigger hassle or in some cases actually end up being more of a withholding issue for the employer.

And the employees could be causing more problems down the road. So I actually did not recommend any employers do this deferment with their employees, and so it. I don’t know how popular it was but the tax professionals I have spoken with, many of them have not taken advantage or recommend this to their employees, well because of the potential issues that could have arise out of but, for those who did once again the repayment is extended until December 31st 2021.

Now, the Educator Expense Deduction which many educators take sometimes you got a teacher, or other professional, teaching professional on a tax return maybe there’s two, sometimes with limited 250 per year it’s above the line deduction. Now for this year, they did go ahead and include expenses that teachers would have had to buy PPE, the personal protective equipment, or perhaps other supplies that were used in prevention of the spread of the COVID 19.

All of these items as a result of this bill are now eligible expenses for teachers to claim the educator expense deduction on their tax return this year. So that’s a very nice reason, the very important educators, the made the roles that they play in educating the children, they work very hard, and to give them this eligibility for some for them to get these deductions for getting the personal protective equipment, which many, many I’m sure did, that’s a very good option that they had and very good that they’re able to take those for those. Now, a big, big area, which affects many of the employers I work with, and many businesses I look forward to working with is on the PPP loans. Now, some and many businesses that I work with, and I’m sure there are several around the country, that have already applied for forgiveness of their PPP loans, and in many cases, and I’ve seen that come through for the majority of my employers that I work with, is that the banks have received the notice and have notified their employers that the PPP loan has been forgiven.

Now a big area that had previously existed in the prior law is that with the forgiven PPP loan, is that you wouldn’t be able to deduct those expenses that were paid with a PPP loan. Now, what is nice is that there’s been some clarification with this bill in regards to forgiving PPP loans is now if you paid expenses, whatever expenses you pay, and of course, that could be payroll. And in some cases, even some non-payroll items, which depending on employer, you may have done as long as you met the 60% threshold, you could deduct, you could get the PPP loan forgiven.

Now, this has been clarified that the expenses paid by the PPP loan are now allowed deductions. And the bonus on this as well is that of course if your PPP loan is forgiven, that’s also is not income to the employer. So it’s been a very, very nice provision. Good clarification we got for PPP loans. Also, some non-payroll costs were also added for definitions within the PPP loan. Some of these non-payroll costs now include items such as computer costs, inventory, personal protective equipment, and it goes a little bit on and on and on there.

So some additional items that can be used for claiming on PPP loans. Another significant development with this, on the PPP loans, which is good for employers, is that again, previously to this law, is that if you received a PPP loan, you are not eligible to take the Employee Retention Credit that has now been changed and updated. So that if you received a PPP loan, you may now also qualify for the employee retention credit.

Now there is some specifics in with that, that would be needed to be clarified and used. But just for purposes here, you can indeed now claim that credit which is an area that we can help ones to go ahead and take advantage of once we look at your particular situation, we can help to determine that information for you. Also, as we can appreciate that the idle grants or idle advances that were given when you went on to The SBA website, and you fill out the information.

And you would get up to a $10,000 like advance or a grant from SBA based on the number of employees up to 10. So if you had two employees, you got 2000 or five employees, you got 5000. Now, significant development on that, also through this bill is the fact that idle grants, which previously prior to this bill, the idle grant you got was considered taxable income. Now, they have a change that so quickly, as we see movement happens, these idle grants are not taxable income to the business now. So when we go to complete the tax returns, we’ll have an idle grant perhaps in there, but that has to be separated out from other income.

In fact, I got lines on the sheets that I do, the profit and loss statements I do for various businesses, that actually has the idle grant separate anyway, I just did them that way. So I knew exactly what that grant was, where that grant, when it came in. I wasn’t anticipating that they would make it non-taxable, but I just did that anyway, just make sure that it is easy to find and easy to make that adjustment.

Now also with these idle or economic income disaster loan advances, prior to this legislation, these particular advances were going to reduce the amount of PPP loan forgiveness you got, for example, consider if you under just prior to this, if you had, for example, like a $55,000 PPP loan, but you also received a $10,000 idle grant. Well, what would happen or what is happening or what was happening prior to this law, is that you’d apply for your PPP loan forgiveness, you had a PPP loan of 55,000.

But because you got the 10,000 grant, you would only get $45,000 of that forgiven. But what we appreciate is that this law changed that. So now, essentially, you had a $55,000 PPP loan, that whole loan can now be forgiven, well will be forgiven. Based on this legislation from this act. Now what we think about is banks are waiting for how this is actually going to go down. But yet, for employers who have applied for forgiveness on these loans, they’re good.

Now this legislation has really made that a lot easier. Now we think about it too, if you are going to end up paying back say, say that 10,000 in the example I had given, you didn’t even actually even have to start making payments to like September of 2021. So there was quite period in there. But at least they did something right and getting this taken care of, we really do think that was a very smart move on their part.

And interesting part on this that might didn’t anticipate in this is that business meals, which normally and forever, as long as I’ve been doing taxes have been 50% deductible. Now, business meals will be 100% deductible for tax years, 2021 and 2022. That’s your business-related meals that you buy for clients, taking them out for a meal 100% deductible now, that is going into 2021. That’s a very interesting development. I don’t know what to think about that.

That’s just the change that from 50%, which benefits so many and actually eliminate some calculations that I normally have to do every year. It’s very interesting, but we’re gonna really appreciate that. Also, we consider in the original legislation, back in the spring, there was an above the line $300 deduction for charitable contributions, that is cash, charitable contributions, a $300 above the line deduction. Now, when that was first put through, that deduction was limited to $300 per tax return. Now, if you have a couple that is married filing jointly, that is increased to $600 for married couples.

So if you have the means and you can make a donation before the end of the year, this is the 30th get something donated out so you get your whole $600 deduction. Also, what we have here is going back to what was, had been the law for years until tax cut and Jobs Act came out toward the end of 2017. This is basically reverting back permanently on unreimbursed medical expenses that you pay out of pocket.

There’s the 7.5% limitation has now permanently extended for those who are able to claim, medical expenses, as well, and then be able to itemize on their tax return so 7.5% limitation is now permanent. If you have had flexible spending accounts at your place of work, which many places have these you are now if you’ve been doing it for dependents, or for health, a flexible spending account, you are now allowed to roll those balances in anything that’s left over from 2020 into 2021.

That is a unique provision hadn’t seen usually there had been kind of a little period you can go into the next year that allowed you to do that. And they’ve had that like that 30 or 60-day period for several years. But now you can roll them all in just roll them into 2021. So that was a very interesting provision, something that I certainly wasn’t thinking about and anticipating but it is there for those that have flexible spending accounts.

We’re going to cover just a little bit more on these updates on this COVID-19 bill here we got just a few more to cover but we will do so when we return in just a couple minutes here. This is Marcelino Dodge, The Tax Answers Advisor on the Voice America Business Channel.

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Many people want to build wealth or grow their business faster, save time and build a nest egg? Hire a tax pro who makes you money and does more than just file your tax return. Marcelino Dodge, Cash Tracks Financial identifies your key numbers works, year-round to improve your numbers, keeps you compliant and helps you achieve goals faster. Call Marcelino Dodge today 719-336-8739 to schedule your free tax strategy review. Call 719-336-8739 or visit cashtracksfinancial.com.

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This is The Tax Answers Advisor with host, Marcelino Dodge. To reach our program today, please call in the number is 1-866-472-5790. That’s 1-866-472-5790. You may also send an email to success@cashtracksfinancial.com. Now, back to The Tax Answers Advisor.

Marcelino: Welcome back to The Tax Answers Advisor. This is Marcelino Dodge, Enrolled Agent. I appreciate you listening to this program today as we are going to get here in a little bit to the topic of the day which is, “Why it is so important to carefully choose who prepares your tax return.” Been discussing for the early part of the show here about the recently passed Care’s Act Legislation that created a lot of challenges but yet, also a lot of good tax area came out of it there.

And as we mentioned before the break, I have just a few more of these and I’m going to cover in particular that I think’s the most relevant now the last one I’m going to mention actually is going to be an interesting idea that the lawmakers had when they did this. Is that if you’re a lower income tax payer, and you’ve been claiming the earned income tax credit the last few years, there’s an election you can make to actually use the income from 2019 to calculate the 2020 amount for the earned income tax credit that you will receive, it’s going to be interesting how this is actually done and calculated.

I’ll have to really look at the software carefully to see how we’re going to do this and how this calculation works, and of course, the IRS instructions as well to see how this is going to be done. But certainly, we’re going to look forward to all of these changes. And how many of these well, pretty much all of these benefit my employers very well, and benefit you very well. And we want to of course, help you through this murky water to be able to develop a good plan for you as we go into 2021 and beyond.

Now, I’m going to take, start taking a look at and consider some ideas, why it’s so important you need to be wise in choosing a tax preparer or who’s going to do your taxes. Because we as we think about and we look, there’s a lot of people and there’s a lot of dealing with identity theft out there. And whenever you do tax return that really opens up and exposes all of your information. We’re talking social security numbers, we’re talking about birthdays, we’re talking income, there’s a large amount of information, private personal information that is shared, or that is required to file a tax return.

And when you just use any person off of the street that says, Oh, I can do that tax return or I can do your tax return whatever. Are they really a professional? In many cases, this individual is not a professional. They’re just someone looking to make a quick buck, charging you maybe $25 or $50 or whatever to do it. And in many cases, the individuals who do this type of work, they’re not using a professional kind of tax software. They’re using some type of Do-it-Yourself software.

And what they’re doing is they’re just typing in the information, typing in answers to questions, and they’re totally trusting the software. Many times these individuals who do it for these such low prices really do not understand what the tax law is, or understand whether the information that they enter into the software goes into the right place. Because their thinking is the software must know how to do it.

The software is going to put it in the right place for me. So, with that kind of thinking, it’s not wise to use someone who’s going to do that because you just want to get it done cheaply, you’re better off. I mean, if you’re going to do that you’re better off just doing it yourself, frankly. So it’s very wise to think about this. Now, always remember that old adage, you get what you pay for. And certainly, if someone is quoting you a low, a very low price to do your tax return it’s usually comes back to that.

You get what you pay for, as well as there’s a few other points I’m gonna hit as I go through this. Why it is important to be wise when you select it? Because another big is you get that IRS letter a few months down the road in regards to that tax return. What are you going to do? Mister person down the street who did your tax return for $25 or 50 bucks. They’re going to be there to help you to answer that notice or to reply to that notice? Probably not.

Because, the way that tax return was probably submitted to the IRS is going to say self-prepared on it. That’s what I see when I see these 99% of the time because that individual did not follow the law. So, what we need to do look at when we go in to how we’re going to select a tax preparer? Who are we going to use? Oftentimes we speak to good friends, good family, and try to give an idea of who to use or particularly if we’re in a certain area or in a certain place. We try to always pick someone.

We try to use someone who we know, or someone who knows somebody that we knows. That way we can normally have someone that is good, and it’s good. I mean, you trusted friends and family can often provide a good little idea of who to use and they probably establish a relationship. And so that can be a good source to be able to do it. But yet also sometimes what we need to stop and look at is the fact of what are the qualifications of this tax preparer?

What kind of training do they have? How long have they been in the business? What perhaps licenses or designations that they have? Many times people will say, Oh, you need to go to a CPA, which is very widely recognized their state license individuals, and many of them in fact, most of them are going to say do a fantastic job. Now, the only the challenge with a CPA sometimes is not all of them specialize in taxes. Many of them do tax but there’s also a keep in mind with CPAs. There’s a lot of different types of work that CPAs do in related to accounting, and not all of it is tax.

So it’s good to really know if the CPA if you’re going to use a CPA, what do they do? They do a lot of tax. And so it’s always just good questions to ask. And sometimes there’s Tax Attorneys, also licensed by the states who I don’t know how much tax returns a tax attorney does, some may do several, some it just varies. So, many times tax attorneys are involved mostly in other legal matters regarding tax. Now, another highly recommended area that I say, you need to really look at is an individual who is an enrolled agent or an EA like myself.

Now what is the difference between an enrolled agent, and say a CPA, or a tax attorney? Well, the difference one of the big difference is, is the fact that an EA is actually licensed by the Internal Revenue Service to do a federal tax return. Now, the other part too, is that my specialty is actually taxes. That’s what I focus on more so than accounting work is I focus on the tax return, getting the best tax return for individuals, that they pay the least amount of tax, making good tax planning, tips, and preparation, helping them to maximize what they’re going to get back.

And so as a enrolled agent, and also think about this tax attorneys, and CPAs as well, all three of these professional areas, have continuing education requirements, which means that we have to get a certain amount of professional education each year from Professional Education Agencies that provide that are approved by the IRS to provide education to help us to get updates on taxes and tax law.

And be able to also have ethics, we’re required to have a certain amount of ethics as well so that basically, we do it right. And we just don’t pawn it off or do anything but we do the tax return correctly. And so this is very important to consider. What are the qualifications of the individual that you’re looking to have your tax returns? What designations do they have? There is also an area that’s called an AFSP, Annual Filings Season Program that the IRS does offer and they don’t charge for but you can go in and get that designation which there are certain tests and you still continuing education requirements.

The test and you have to take a test with that each year. Now, keep in mind that if that’s CPAs, Tax Attorneys and Enrolled Agents like myself, we had to take tests initially to get our designations. Like when I took the test, originally back in 2005, there were four tests that I had to do over a two-day period. And I had to pass all four of those exams to even qualify to get the earn Enrolled Agent designation, as well as passing a background check.

So it’s pretty extensive, what individuals who get these designations have and they’re really the right individuals to go to and so what kind of histories we think about as a preparer have is well something you need to think about and looking for prepared do your, to do your tax return. How long have they been in the business? Do they have any complaints against them? There’s places on the IRS website where you can go look for this prepare perhaps that disciplinary actions against them, and they list CPAs, tax attorneys, Enrolled Agents and AFSPs on these, on the IRS website to do this.

So that you have to once again be able to look and see, and make a good choice. When you try to do the tax return, have someone to do your tax return. Now a big pet peeve that I have with tax preparers or people who claim to be tax preparers, is by law, if you are paid to prepare a tax return. On the 1040, there’s a spot that says for paid preparer use. If that is done on, do-it-yourself software it says self-prepared there, and it says self-prepared there. Even if you paid someone like 25 or 50 bucks to do it. And they send it in on that software.

Then, then you’re stuck, you may have paid somebody but they, their information there. I myself as an enrolled agent I constantly always, whenever I prepare a tax return, be it an individual tax return, or a business style tax return. It is always has my name, Cash Tracks Financial Inc. their, address, it has my name as prepare on there, of course, my business number all of that information is on that part of the tax return in order to be transmitted to the IRS.

Now a key person if they’re a legitimate tax return preparer, they’ll have what’s considered in our business or what’s known in our business as a P10, or a prepare tax identification number, which, if you are being paid to prepare a tax return. You are required to have one of these ID numbers, it’s a PT and number, and you are listed on the tax return. Now, due to identity theft and areas we’re now allowed to mask portions of those out on the tax return for our protection as tax preparers, but yet the tax preparer needs to have that, and they need to use that information needs to be on a tax return that is sent and transmitted to the IRS.

When we look for a tax preparer oftentimes we want to know what kind of service fees that they have and it’s good to ask how do they do their fees, is it perform or is it hourly? Now, you got to watch out for various unscrupulous tax return preparers, especially ones that, well, you get a certain, we get a certain percentage of whatever your refund is so if you get a $5,000 refund we get like, 10%, really that’s not allowed. And you shouldn’t.

There shouldn’t be a fee for that or at least not a fee based on a percentage of the refund that you get that they get for you because that only incentivizes them to get you the highest refund possible. That may not even be legal.

So if you run into someone who says, it’s a percentage of the refund is our fee you run the other way and you run away fast, and you do not look back. But I want to caution one’s on to is a lot of times you’ll see these places advertising do your taxes and buy your car. Now I don’t know anything about the tax preparers at those places.

But I think that’s pretty, pretty, cost, not wise to do better off going to someone like myself who has their own office separate from a car dealership or whatever, so that there’s the only goal is to get it done right. Then to get your refund within the time period that the IRS does get it done. Now this is going to fit in with a few other items I’m going to come up with here in just a couple moments, because one thing is that when you use a prepare. Do they e-file?

Yes, do the e-file because once again if you do 10 or more tax returns, you’re required to e-file unless you’re there’s certain exceptions allowed in there but in general, do they e-file. And if they don’t e-file it, then they’re potentially in violation of the law. Now once again, if once we’re using Do-It-Yourself software usually it does e-file, but yet even at that I’ve had cases where all they said it was e-filed but then the person for whatever reason, down the road realize, you know, I never got my refund.

And then we come out, find out months later that the return was never transmitted to the IRS, because they didn’t actually get the acknowledgement because when I send out a tax return to the IRS I transmitted out of my software through the internet to the IRS. Within minutes, now used to take like overnight but usually now within minutes. I have some type of response from the IRS saying, this red tax return looks good.

Here’s acknowledgement showing that we received it which essentially a receipt that I have that the IRS has this tax return in their system. Do the individuals do this, that’s something that you have to that. I always encourage ones to ask and to check. Do they e-file? Where do they originate? Are they originating it from them or how are they basically, how are they doing? How are they e-filing it? And then also, as you’re selecting preparer, you want to ask them.

You’re going to do my tax return, where are my copies gonna be? My copies of the tax return? Now, as tax professionals, we are required to provide you with a copy of the tax return, that tax return can be either a paper copy, or it can be an electronic copy. My office right now, we actually provide both individuals, will provide you a paper copy, and we provide you with electronic copy through our portal, which makes it really easy for you to be able to have copies for institutions that may require a copy of your tax return.

So again, it’s important to know that because so many times people have had someone do their tax return, then it turns out, they need a copy of their tax return. And guess what, they never got a copy for who knows what reason, all they have are their tax documents, or W-2’s or the 1099’s. So it’s important that you be able to do that as well, as you keep in mind is that even when I provide copies to individuals, they have some need come down later on down the road, to have it or to need it and anymore, pretty much what we do is that if you have it available on our web portal, we make that available for you there and you can download it and print however many copies you need, for whatever purpose you need there to be able to do it.

So we always have a copy available. So we are there. I take care of you very, very strongly in that. Now we got just a few more of these important points to consider when selecting a tax preparer. So I’m gonna go ahead come back and discuss those a little bit more, and have some other thoughts about reminding of how Cash Tracks Financial, how I do the best job I can for you, and why we do what we do. So we’re going to return in just a couple minutes, discuss a little bit more. This is Marcelino Dodge on The Tax Answers Advisor on The Voice America Business Channel.

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Many people want to build wealth or grow their business faster, but do not know what specific numbers to look at that actually help build monthly cash flow. Hire a tax pro who makes you money and does more than just file your tax return. Marcelino Dodge at Cash Tracks Financial identifies your key numbers, works year-round to improve your numbers, keeps you compliant and helps you achieve goals faster. Schedule your free tax strategy review by calling, 719-336-8739 or visit cashtracksfinancial.com.

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This is The Tax Answers Advisor with host, Marcelino Dodge. To reach our program today, please call in the number is 1-866-472-5790. That’s 1-866-472-5790. You may also send an email to success@cashtracksfinancial.com. Now, back to The Tax Answers Advisor.

Marcelino: Welcome back to The Tax Answers Advisor. I’m Marcelino Dodge, appreciate you listening in today to the importance of being wise and when selecting a tax preparer. They talked about the importance of looking at what’s the qualifications of the individual? Are they a CPA, a Tax Attorney, an Enrolled Agent or an AFSP Annual Filing Season Program? What kind of history do they have? Are they signing the tax return?

Do they have the proper credentials with the IRS? The P10? How do they charge their fees? All of these excellent to consider are they e-filing, then of course, you’re paying someone to do your tax return? Are they giving you proper paper copies? Or perhaps a good electronic copy can be on a CD, can be honest, or soft storage portal, like what we use. So these are some very important considerations to take in mind.

Now a few others just to touch base here to remind us that to think about this question, is the preparer available year around? Many times, on one select a tax preparer for someone is going to do their taxes. All they’re thinking about is I got to do this tax return, I need to have this done by April 15th. They’re not even considering or not even thinking about if they get one of those notices from the IRS which can show up randomly or if for some reason.

You may have unreported income or maybe you forgot to document like a 1099 or if you took money out of a retirement plan, all of these are items which can cause notices from the IRS. Or if you’re in business, and you’re having a really good business which I have some individuals who’ve have even through the COVID-19 this year have had some very good business going on. And you need some advice, or you need to talk to your preparer, or you have one to ask about something. Is this preparer, is this person going to be available year round?

Or is it just something that is seasonal, are they’re just from January through April. That is absolutely vital to keep in mind, because like our goal here as we work with individuals and with businesses is to be available year around to help you to be able to plan properly for your taxes, and to be available so that if you have a major life change. Like, as we go into 2021, you get a new job, or you have unemployment, you’re getting unemployment for the first time, what should you do?

You leave your employer and you have a retirement plan with that employer 401k. And you’re going and you’re thinking. Should I just cash this out? What should I do? By having a year round tax person, like Cash Tracks Financial here, have myself Marcelino Dodge working with you, we can help you to make those wise choices, explain to you what the tax consequences will be of making certain moves. Especially one of the biggest mistakes I see people make.

And why it’s important to have someone available that’s year-round, is if you do leave a job and you have a large amount 50, $100,000 or more in like a 401k. And you cash that baby out, you take the money and run, so to speak, you could be paying a much higher tax bracket than you really need to be in I mean, you could jump up into 22, 24 or 32% tax bracket just for the one year and pay 1000s of dollars more in tax than you need to at the federal level.

And then as well as depending on your state might be at the state level as well as. Not to mention, if there’s a 10% tax penalty involved there. That’s one example of why it’s absolutely essential. If you’re going to choose a tax preparer, you need to have one that is available, year-round. One that you can call and talk to about such items. So that is also very essential in helping you to select a tax preparer. As you look at certain items, and think about also in selecting a tax prepare. Are they asking for your records, or your receipts?

That’s a standard policy, when we talk to ones we want to know what kind of records you have? What kind of receipts do you have for these deductions that you’re going to claim on your tax return? Because, I always essentially look at this because I’m gonna put my name on that, I want to may know that the numbers that you’re putting on there are right. And so I do want to review your records, I do want to review your receipts, I want to know that I’m putting my signature because I have penalties that I could pay for putting wrong information on a tax return not that’s in addition to anything that you as a taxpayer may pay.

So it’s vital that I get that information. And so a tax preparer should ask for this type of information. Now, when people come in, of course, they sign a lot of different forms and they come into my office or we sign them online electronically, whatever the case may be, is that they’re usually items like an Engagement Letter, maybe other Disclosure Letters, but one area that a person never ever signs and you should never ever sign for prepare is a blank tax form.

Yes, never ever do that. If a tax preparer ever asked you to sign a form 1040 or a form 8879 or any other form that requires a signature, but it’s blank. Never sign that. That’s another one of situations, if that preparer asks you to do that you run and go find someone else who will not ask you to do such questionable actions because their action and even asking you to do that is something that is questionable.

And then a last little area is that if you do encounter a situation where there is an abusive preparer. Someone who you find out who is doing stuff wrong. There’s actually a method to report such preparers to the IRS and that is that can be very bad for to preparer. But it can also be very bad for individuals that preparer has done tax returns for. There are numerous instances when the IRS has gone in and they’ve gotten some complaints about it preparer who did some reporting, such as incoming inflating, inflating the amount of expenses on tax return.

And what they decided to do, well, let’s see this tax return is off and it was prepared by this person. Let’s go ahead and look at more returns at this tax that this tax preparer did and they can do that because through the P10 they can pick up and look and see to this tax preparer do this one Oh good. Look at this tax return right here is this information, correct? Well, if it isn’t, guess what?

That tax preparer can get a penalty as well as you as a taxpayer, even though he did what he did. You’re ultimately responsible as a tax payer for what was put on that return. So thus having the correct information using the correct preparer can avoid 1000s of dollars in penalties for you as an individual. That’s where it comes in to you as a tax payer to carefully select someone to do your tax return who will do it right and will not be abusive. And will do things according to the law all the way down the line. So yes, it is vital.

As we look going into January, people are going to start looking to be able to do their tax returns. Who are you going to go to? These are some excellent suggestions of what you can do and how you can help to select one, and we consider as I work together with individuals finding intelligent solutions being available year-round. Being an enrolled agent with the IRS to help you to do it. Now, an important matter is that an Attorney, a CPA, or an Enrolled Agent, are all able to represent you before the IRS?

That’s important consideration of whoever you do your tax returns. That’s why it’s vital to use, at least in my opinion, one of the three either an Attorney, a CPA, or an Enrolled Agent like myself because we can represent you before the IRS in various matters, related to tax, and even help with the appeals as well. Now there are areas, of course, the idea is, if it’s done right in the first place, and you’re very timely, then we avoid all those situations in the first place.

Which is why when I work with individuals through our Intelligent Solutions Program, we find solutions for you based on goals that we establish together, sit down in a meeting, we have a meeting here, over the Internet, I get to know you, get to know me, we gather these key indicators. We gather and analyze data, on personal finances, on business finances, we put all that together, we come to an action plan, the items, whatever items you have that need to be addressed, we prioritize those items, we start at the top.

And we work that way down. And as we work through those items, we’re also working with you to get all of your compliance needs done. It could be individuals or individual tax returns, we’re talking businesses, we’re talking corporate tax return, your partnership tax return, and also include as we do your payroll getting all your payroll tax returns, all of that is covered through one simple monthly fee.

Now, depending on how much maybe accounting work we do, will also affect what the fee is but yet, we help you to get all of that in getting all wrapped up very neat. So that you can have the best possible solution for you and to be able to reach and see what exactly what you need to do. Yes, all you have to do to learn about these programs to set up an exploratory meeting, a free mutual exploration session, be happy to do it, like say online through our online conferencing system.

We can do that exploration system, you can visit cashtracksfinancial.com, you can email me it’s success@cashtracksfinancial.com. You can give me a call, 844-394-4287 be happy to have that no cost, no obligation, exploratory mutual exploration meeting so that we can get to know each other. Certainly really appreciate all today, as we look forward to next week, can have a slight change on The Tax Answers Advisor as we’re going to move this live broadcast from our current time to Thursday mornings at 9am Pacific.

So we’re going to look forward to speaking to you all then on next week, and also next week we’re going to start our 14th show. It doesn’t seem like much because this is our 13th show been really great and exciting. Next week we start number 14, going to start a very well as we look at deductions that you can take for 2020 after January 1st 2021. I can already kind of get gathered you’re like thinking what?

Yeah, there are some deductions that we can still backdate so to speak and be able to take them for 2021. Let me take it for 2020.So you’re thinking about that we’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week. That’ll be on Thursday 9am Pacific and I really appreciate and I thank you for listening to The Tax Answers Advisor. Again I’m Marcelino Dodge, Enrolled Agent on The Voice America Business Channel.

Thank you for listening to the tax answers advisor with host Marcelino dodge. We’ll be back again next Wednesday at 6pm Eastern Time and 3pm pacific time on The Voice America business channel. We’ll have more to share next week.

Cash Tracks Financial Inc.
117 W Beech St
Lamar, CO 81052
Office:(719) 336-8739
Toll Free: (844) 394-4287
Fax: (719) 336-8799
Email: success@cashtracksfinancial.com

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When you need a financial or tax advisor, tax prep, insurance, or business guidance contact Cash Tracks Financial Inc., serving Lamar Colorado.

(719) 336-8739 TOLL FREE: (844) 394-4287 FAX: (719) 336-8799

117 W Beech St, Lamar, CO 81052, USA


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