Tax Warrior Chronicles

Late in the evening on Friday, March 20, 2020, the Treasury Department and the IRS issued Notice 2020-18, restating and expanding relief provided in Notice 2020-17.  Read on for the details of the expanded relief.

Notice 2020-18 provides guidance on how Affected Taxpayers may defer tax filings and tax payments due to the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Any person (individual, trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation per IRC §7701(a)(1)), with a federal income tax payment or a federal income tax return due April 15, 2020 is considered affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and is an Affected Taxpayer.

For an Affected Taxpayer, the due date for filing federal income tax

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Families First Act) was approved by the Senate on March 18, 2020, and swiftly signed by the President into law.

While the Families First Act contains tax provisions, the primary goal was to ensure affected individuals receive paid leave, food assistance and unemployment insurance during this unprecedented time.  The Families First Act is nuanced, and additional guidance is required.  For now, here is our high-level summary of the Families First Act for our readers.

Non-Business Matters

The Families First Act provides funding for Health and Human Services programs that aid elderly Americans, increases Medicaid funding to cover coronavirus

The Treasury Department and the IRS finally issued Notice 2020-17 late Wednesday afternoon, providing guidance on how Affected Taxpayers may defer tax payments due to the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Any person (individual, trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation per IRC §7701(a)(1)), with a federal income tax payment due on April 15, 2020, is considered an Affected Taxpayer.

The Applicable Postponed Payment Amount is the aggregate of all payments due on April 15, 2020.

Individuals and non-corporate Affected Taxpayers may defer the Applicable Postponed Payment Amount of income and self-employment tax of up to $1,000,000 to July 15, 2020, regardless of filing

The White House and law makers met Wednesday March 11, 2020, to hash out emergency legislation to provide economic relief related to the coronavirus pandemic.  There is a planned vote on Thursday March 12, 2020, with hopes that President Trump will sign the legislation into law by Friday March 13, 2020.  It is expected that this legislation and related executive orders will include an extension of time to file and pay taxes normally due on or before April 15, 2020, for many taxpayers.

Steven Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary, stated on Wednesday March 11^th that law makers have been working “round-the-clock” to come to a consensus on an economic relief package, which is expected to include

By: Sherri Sorbello, CPA

Many dread the process of filing their tax returns and wait until the last minute to gather the data and documents.  Procrastination hurts both you and your tax accountant.  Getting your information to your accountant earlier may result in lower tax preparation fees and less stress for all involved. 

Here are a few tips and tricks to get ahead of the game in completing your tax return…

• Create a master list of your bank and financial accounts so you can anticipate what tax forms you should receive at tax time. Update the list as needed for new or closed accounts.  If you have an investment advisor managing your accounts, introduce them to your tax accountant. 

By: Stuart Shikiar, Albert Sipzener, Lockwood Sloan and Sam Shikiar

Real estate has been a time-tested addition to investor portfolios. Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs, provide an opportunity for tax-advantaged income investing. Today’s post features a discussion by the team at Shikiar Asset Management, a New York-based registered investment advisor and long-time friend of Drucker & Scaccetti.  Here is what they have to say about REITs…

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have been a central component of our strategy for several years. REITs offer investors the benefits of exposure to real estate coupled with the ease and advantages of investing in publicly traded equities,

By: Janaki Narayanswamy, CPA

Our blogs are written to help make tax compliance and planning processes easier to understand for non-tax professionals. Though many of our articles provide keen insight in easy-to-understand language, we are sometimes guilty of inadvertently peppering our articles with industry jargon, “tax talk,” or abbreviations that you many not easily recognize.  So, we thought it would be helpful to our readers to provide a brief explanation of frequently used tax talk words in a monthly “Tax Talk Glossary.”  Read on for our first installment where we discuss types of income.

“What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only

Last year, we made you aware of possible changes to Form 1040-SR. On December 19, 2019, the IRS released the final version of the form, an alternative to using Form 1040 for those age 65 or older. Form 1040-SR uses some of the same schedules and instructions as Form 1040. However, to use this form option properly, there are a few things seniors need to know.

As with Form 1040, several schedules can be used with Form 1040-SR. Rather than include an exhaustive list of these schedules in this post, you can click here for the list and guidance on how to use each with the form you file. Using Form 1040-SR may require you to use Schedules 1-3 (vs. 1-6 for Form 1040).

The IRS’s general

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) threw tax practitioners nationwide for a loop last year, especially relating to partnership taxation.  While we now have one TCJA tax season under our belts, partnership taxation continues to be complex and there are additional changes for 2019 of which to be aware.  

One of the biggest headaches we’ve encountered thus far for 2019 returns relates to partnerships with partners that are disregarded entities.  For 2019, the IRS now wants the OWNER of that disregarded entity to be listed as the partner (using the owner’s address and EIN/SSN) on the K-1.  The disregarded entity and its EIN will now be listed on a new line, Item H, underneath the owner’s

Over the last several months, the dreaded “R” word has crept into the news. There are economists and analysts who are on both sides of the fence on whether a recession or market correction is coming soon. To help our clients and subscribers, we’ve asked our friend, Robb Parlanti, CFA, a 30-year market veteran and financial advisor at BLBB Advisors, to shed some light on the situation. In Q&A form, here are Robb’s thoughts…

Q: I am worried financial markets will fall significantly. What can I do to prepare myself?

Robb: It is important to keep 3 things in mind:  

1)  Financial markets regularly go through up-and-down periods. While it can be unsettling, investors are generally best served