Tax Talk

Rest easy this year registered return preparers!  IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman spoke today before the AICPA and announced that the continuing education requirement for tax return preparers would be pushed back until 2012.  This means that preparers will have a full 12 months to earn the required 15 hours of CE credits.

When reviewing your clients’ prior year tax returns be sure to check to see if they claimed any college expenses, and if they did, they should have used the American Opportunity Credit.  This credit has a refundable aspect to it, similar to the Earned Income Credit, and is available for the first 4 years of […]

Tax Preparers filing returns for military personnel should familiarize themselves with the Service members Civil Relief Act and The Military Spouses Civil Relief Act.  This law basically closed the loophole that was causing military personnel to be taxed by different states if they were forced to move for military duty.  This law allows both the […]

One of the requirements for the new PTIN registration process is to be in tax compliance for both business and personal tax filings.  This means that you must have filed your tax returns and if you owe, you must have contacted the IRS and entered into a payment arrangement program.  In short, if you want […]

The IRS begins notifying former tax return preparers that they must renew their PTINs if they are still intending on being paid preparers this coming tax season. Use of the PTIN will be required on all federal returns prepared by paid tax return preparers starting Jan. 1. This requirement is for all return preparers, even […]