Some people have an ear for languages. They can visit a foreign country and be conversant in a matter of days. For others, foreign languages remain a mystery, if not a misery. Those French, as a friend of ours used to say, have a different word for everything. Tax law...
Bay Area Estate And Tax Planning Law Firm
Month: June 2014
21st-century estate planning: Don’t forget the online assets
Sometimes it is important to closely consider whose interests are being promoted in an estate plan. It is obvious, for starters, that the individual or couple engaged in thinking about and implementing a sound and purposeful estate plan are promoting objectives that...
A warm and fuzzy IRS? Agency announces taxpayers’ Bill of Rights
Symbolic but meaningful. That’s the message the Internal Revenue Service is seeking to convey to taxpayers in California and nationally regarding its recently released “Taxpayer Bill of Rights.” Do we really need such a thing? Apparently so, given the sheer degree to...
No FBAR requirement this year for taxpayers with Bitcoin holdings
The Internal Revenue Service's position on digital currency such as Bitcoin continues to evolve. As we discussed previously, the IRS issued a decision in March to categorize Bitcoin as taxable property and not official currency. While Bitcoin essentially functions as...
IRS expands list of audit filters to close massive ‘alimony gap’
When we were talking about IRS audits a few weeks ago, we mentioned that audits are no longer random. The IRS has filters in place that flag tax returns that fall outside of the norm or include information that requires a closer look. One example was a return that...
In dramatic twist, family members contest Mickey Rooney’s will p3
One of the disadvantages of being a celebrity is that you have no privacy. One of the disadvantages to being a celebrity living in California is that court records are much easier to come by. Divorces are not sealed, for example, except in rare situations. Reporters...