Allan Rolnick's (taxcoach) Blog

 "If you are truly serious about preparing your child for the future, don't teach him to subtract — teach him to deduct." Fran LebowitzHere in the United States, we spend about $1.3 trillion on education, including early childhood programs, K-12th grade, the whole college-industrial complex, and ...

    Falling behind on your debts is never a fun place to be. It’s less fun when a levy is placed on your assets. In this article, we take a look at what an IRS levy is, why it happens, and what you can do about it.Note: If you have any tax trouble or owe more than $10k to the IRS or state but ca...

  The autumn leaves are changing, and “the most wonderful time of the year” is right around the corner… I’m guessing tax season isn’t exactly at the front of your mind. But it should be! (At least in the top five things at the front of your mind.) Because as long as you’re getting paid by someon...

  Thirty-five years ago, cartoonist Bill Watterson published the very first "Calvin and Hobbes" strip. Calvin, an irrepressible six-year-old who's surely destined for a therapist's couch or an orange jumpsuit (or both), tells his dad he's off to check his tiger trap: "I rigged a tuna fish sandwi...

Even as a  tax professional, when I get a letter from the IRS addressed to my business (or, worse, to my home), I share with you that feeling of initial trepidation: what fresh hell will I now have to deal with? More often than not, it’s something completely innocuous, like an address change, or...

  Sunday night, the New York Times released a bombshell story analyzing 18 years of what they characterized as Donald Trump's "tax return information." We're not going to touch the substance of the article — that's what Twitter and Facebook are for. But one specific deduction stuck out like an u...