202 results for author: Daniel Morris

Taxpayers at Risk: The Cost of Bailouts in the Banking Industry

The recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank has raised concerns about the impact of bank failures on taxpayers. When banks fail, there is a risk that the government will step in and provide a bailout to prevent a wider financial crisis. These bailouts are funded by taxpayers. That means that taxpayers are always at risk when the government seeks to prevent or modulate bank failures. In this article, we will explore the cost of bailouts in the banking industry and the risks that taxpayers face. The Moral Hazard of Deposit Insurance Deposit insurance is a government-sponsored, albeit institution (customer) paid insurance that ...

Luck Alone Cannot Guarantee Financial Success: A Lesson from St. Patrick’s Day

This is a story about Erin, a young woman who aspired to achieve financial success. Like many, she believed luck to be the sole key to success. Erin chased luck for years and took risky ventures hoping for life-changing results. She believed that one massive payoff could lead her to the road of riches. However, Erin learned that luck was not enough to ensure long-term financial stability. Unexpected setbacks, like market crashes and personal emergencies, wiped out her gains and left her struggling. It was then that she realized that to achieve financial security, she needed more than just luck. She needed a comprehensive financial plan, ...

Your Business Card Speaks Volumes About You and Your Company Without Saying a Word

As someone who plays a reasonable amount of poker, I've learned that reading people is an art. The same principle applies to the business world, where how we present our businesses matters and ourselves. In today's knowledge and experience economy, people make snap judgments based on a whole host of data points, both verbal and nonverbal. One of the first "tells" is our business card. Despite the rise of digital communication, traditional business cards still hold value. The quality of paper, type of printing, and information provided all communicate a message about who you are and where you are located. But there's more to it than that. The ...

Tractors, Antique or Not, Are Deductible

I'm almost certain that like myself you have some friends or acquaintances that have embraced the "Getting Back to Basics" lifestyle during the past couple of years either because they are striving for better health options and choices to maybe some cost savings due to increasing grocery costs and expenses. I for one have benefited from my neighbor's chicken coop that produces fresh eggs for my family and me. Thus, this article caught my attention the other day... Steven Hoakison took his federal income tax case to court, where the IRS asserted that Steven Hoakison was a collector of antique tractors, and The 40 farm tractors in dispute ...

Mental Health and Remote Working Concerns

Good or Bad, Better or Worse, these Covid-19 impacted years have crystalized an experiential evolution in the modern workplace… Remote Working! And, I am concerned. First, I’ll admit that due to recent regulatory and general concerns for health and safety, I’ve embraced the modern technologies that allow us to accomplish excellence in service and technical quality without interruption, even when we are so infrequently together. So why the concern? Well, for certain in spite of remote working’s popularity and the various associated benefits; as we all should be aware; one size does not fit “All”. Flexible and remote working has been ...

An Update: 2023 Health Insurance for S-Corporation Owners

If you operate your business as an S-Corporation, you will continue to enjoy good news in 2023 regarding your health insurance. In this article, we give you the ins and outs of what you need to do with your S-Corporation to ensure your health insurance deductions and also avoid the $100-a-day penalties for violating the rules of the Affordable Care Act. Good News The good news is that the old rules still apply. Step 1: Get the cost of the health insurance on the S-Corporationʼs books. You can do this in one of two ways: Direct Payment: The S-Corporation can make the premium payments directly to the insurance company for the accident ...

Allyship: How to Become a Better Ally

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been all too aware of the evolution of meaningful discussions about an uncomfortable topic for some of us: The Dominant Culture’s Privilege in not only the United States but the rest of the “Enlightened” world. I was moved after reading this article in the Harvard Business Review "Be a Better Ally". The “topics” of "How to Become a Better Ally" reveal some of the imbalances of the recent challenges for example some of us experienced during the Coronavirus pandemic that constrained some individuals even in influential places — that is, the white men and women of the “Dominant Culture” who ...

Tax Consequences of a Short Sale of Your Principal Residence

The real estate boom appears to be over for now. Morgan Stanley predicts that house prices could fall by 10 percent by the end of 2024, or perhaps twice as much in a worst-case scenario. Those who purchased their homes at the top of the market could be in trouble, especially if the U.S. falls into a recession. It is true, homeowners donʼt want to go through a foreclosure and the resulting destruction of their credit rating. Fortunately, there is an alternative for homeowners having trouble making their mortgage payments: a short sale. Short sales avoid foreclosure, but they can result in tax liabilities. What Is a Short Sale? A ...

Section 1031: Don’t Miss This Depreciation Election

As you likely remember, the Section 1031 exchange allows you to sell a piece of appreciated real estate and defer all the taxes as long as you invest the entire proceeds in like-kind property. And then consider this: a cost segregation study allows you to separate qualifying real estate into separate components with shorter depreciable lives that speed up deductions and in many cases create immediate write-offs. Can you (a) defer a large gain via Section 1031 and (b) immediately create a large write-off on the new asset with a cost segregation study? You can, but you have to make sure you donʼt miss this one important step. 1031 Exchange ...

Do You Owe Self-Employment Tax on Airbnb Rental Income?

In Chief Counsel Advice (CCA) 202151005, the IRS opined on this issue. But before we get to what the IRS said, understand that the CCA’s (Central Collection Agency) conclusions cannot be cited as precedent or authority by others, such as you or your tax professional. Even so, we always consider what the CCA says as semi-useful information and cover it here, along with some analysis that goes beyond what the IRS came up with. So, here goes. The Exact Question To be specific, the CCA asks whether net income from renting out living quarters is excluded from self-employment income under Section 1402(a)(1) of our beloved Internal Revenue ...