Author: Gregory J. Cook, EA, CPA

  • Alabama Department of Revenue Warns Taxpayers of Phone Scam

    Montgomery, Nov. 20, 2014— The Alabama Department of Revenue has been made aware of a current scam targeting Alabama taxpayers. Someone claiming to be an employee of the Department of Revenue is making phone calls telling taxpayers they need to pay an amount due immediately. According to Julie Magee, Commissioner of Revenue, this is a…

  • Taxpayers are Entitled to Representation

    Taxpayers are Entitled to Representation

    The direct contact provisions of Internal Revenue Code Section 7521 generally require IRS personnel to stop a taxpayer interview whenever a taxpayer requests to consult with a representative, and prohibits IRS personnel from bypassing a qualified representative without supervisory approval once a taxpayer authorizes one to act on his or her behalf and informs the…

  • IRS Emails

    The facts and circumstances at issue here surrounding the testimony before Congress regarding the lost IRS Emails are of great concern to me. I believe this matter to be every bit as serious as the Watergate scandal. I’m convinced we are witnessing political treachery, abuse of power and government resources at its worst. I’m afraid…

  • Florida Man Owes IRS 150% Penalty on Swiss Account

    A federal jury found an 87-year-old Florida man owes the U.S. government civil penalties amounting to 150 percent of the value of his Swiss bank account, the biggest such penalty by percentage on record, his lawyers said. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/florida-man-87-owes-150-of-swiss-account-jury-says.html  

  • Senate Republicans Block Tax Cuts

    Senate Republicans blocked a package of more than $80 billion in tax cuts. The bill would have revived more than 50 tax breaks that lapsed Dec. 31 and would have extended them through 2015. I hope and pray the good people of Kentucky will do America a favor by voting Mitch McConnell out this year.

  • GOVERNOR’S TAXES

    GOVERNOR’S TAXES – Alabama Governor Robert Bentley’s tax form shows an adjusted annual income of $373,000 in documents just mailed to the IRS. What makes that unusual is Bentley refuses to take a salary until unemployment falls to 5.2 percent in the state. Actually, he sold an office building he owned while working as a…

  • Security Notice

    Security Notice

    NONE OF OUR SERVERS OR THOSE OF OUR VENDORS WERE AFFECTED BY “HEARTBLEED”. You’ve probably heard about the Security Alert regarding “HEARTBLEED”, the code exploit that manipulates OPENSSL. Heartbleed is a catastrophic bug in OpenSSL, a software library of great significance, used by almost everyone (except Microsoft) for their SSL/TLS code. Without going into any…

  • April Is Here!

    April Is Here!

    This is a snapshot of our schedule this past Saturday. No evening appointments on Saturdays, but as you can see, we had no openings. If you have not yet scheduled an appointment, please don’t delay. These last few weeks are our busiest and most hectic time. If you need to file an extension give us…

  • Shared Responsibility Payment

    Starting January 2014, you and your family must either have health insurance coverage throughout the year, qualify for an exemption from coverage, or make a payment when you file your 2014 federal income tax return in 2015. Many people already have qualifying health insurance coverage and do not need to do anything more than maintain…