• Special Tax Break for Many Retirees in Alabama

    Thanks to last-minute tax extender legislation passed in December, taxpayers filing their 2015 returns can still deduct either state income tax paid or state sales tax paid, whichever is greater. Here’s how it works according to the tax advisors at Cook & Company … We compare your state income tax deduction against estimated sales tax you paid…

  • Failure to File Penalty Increase

    Failure to File Penalty Increase

    IRC Section 6651 On February 24, 2016, the President signed into law H.R. 644, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015. The law authorizes U.S. Customs and Border Protection to put in place tools to strengthen trade enforcement at the border and facilitate the efficient movement of legitimate trade and travel. The law…

  • Meet Holly and Brooke

    Meet Holly Hutchens, our receptionist. Holly is doing a great job! And she’s assisting Tracie with our online schedule, portal and updating information in our office management software. In addition, Holly is our Project Leader on a new initiative that will allow clients to check-in upon arrival using one of five office provided ipads. At…

  • Housing Expense Working Over Seas

    Housing Expense Working Over Seas

    The following table provides adjusted limitations on housing expenses (in lieu of the otherwise applicable limitation of $30,390) for 2016 (can be applied to 2015). Country Location Limitation on Housing Expenses (full year) Limitation on Housing Expenses (daily) Angola Luanda 84,000 229.51 Argentina Buenos Aires 56,500 154.37 Australia Melbourne 30,500 83.33 Australia Perth 32,600 89.07…

  • What We Do

  • Phishing Scheme Involving W-2s

    Phishing Scheme Involving W-2s

    The Internal Revenue Service today issued an alert to payroll and human resources professionals to beware of an emerging phishing email scheme that purports to be from company executives and requests personal information on employees. The IRS has learned this scheme – part of the surge in phishing emails seen this year – already has…

  • Title VIII of HR1314 – Changes to Social Security

    Title VIII of HR1314 – Changes to Social Security

    After getting questions from two different clients on this subject, I thought I should research and share. This Act, known as the Security Benefit Protection and Opportunity Enhancement Act, was signed into law by the President as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 last November. It is my understanding that Section 831 Closure…

  • Scam Calls and Emails Using IRS as Bait Persist

    Scam Calls and Emails Using IRS as Bait Persist

    Scams using the IRS as a lure continue. They take many different forms. The most common scams are phone calls and emails from thieves who pretend to be from the IRS. They use the IRS name, logo or a fake website to try to steal your money. They may try to steal your identity too.…

  • Taxpayer Authentication and Theft Protection

    Taxpayer Authentication and Theft Protection

    The Alabama Department of Revenue is requiring the following information from your Driver’s License this year; Driver’s License Number, State, Expiration Date and Issue Date. Last year TurboTax suspended the online filing of state tax returns after a massive spike in fraudulent refund requests, most of which, were tracked back to hijacked or fraudulently created…