Tax

Shadow preparer; an unusual exit strategy; a Jag, a Benz and a sentence; and other highlights of recent tax cases.

CPAs know it is imperative to refer clients to third party consultants for various issues that require deep specialization in an area of tax. In many ways, these specialty tax firms act as an extension of your team and require coordination to deliver results that often have a material impact on a tax return.

The tax reform bill introduced by House Republicans doesn’t give the low 25 percent income tax rate for pass-through businesses to accounting firms and other professional service firms, and the rules for getting around it are complicated.

The Internal Revenue Service is warning taxpayers not to believe reports circulating on the internet about a start date for the 2018 tax filing season, insisting it has not yet chosen a start date, and is waiting to see what Congress does with tax legislation.

House Republicans say they’re determined to simplify the U.S. tax code. A long-awaited provision in the massive tax bill they unveiled Thursday, a special rate for “pass-through” businesses, could do exactly the opposite.

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans billed their tax overhaul for months as a benefit primarily for the middle class, but what they delivered Thursday was designed more to favor large corporations and some closely held businesses.

The complexities proposed in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act gives practitioners plenty to talk to their clients about.

A quick look inside the proposed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

As the end of the year approaches, it is a good time to think of planning moves that will help lower your tax bill for this year and possibly the next. Until Congress passes tax reform legislation, these tips should help many tax clients.

Who would the changes help — and hurt? Baird’s director of advanced planning weighs in.