1. Do not boast about how you got away with undeclared income. Ever heard of whistleblowers? They earn rewards of 15% to 30% of your assessments. 2. Do not hide interest and dividend income from the IRS. Remember Murphy’s Law: IRS sends a notice of unreported income of some savings and stock brokerage accounts that…
THIS is one thing I hear from people all the time: “If you ask me, I really hate doing this, but I feel I have no choice.” Of course, no one ever wakes up one morning and decide to just file bankruptcy without seriously thinking it over. Usually, people spend a lot of time going…
THE U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced the settlement of an age discrimination lawsuit against Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a NASA field center located in Pasadena, CA. JPL is NASA’s primary planetary spacecraft center. It designs and makes planetary robotic spacecraft and operates NASA’s Deep Space Network. In the lawsuit, the EEOC accused…
WHO would have thought that we would have to go through a pandemic of these proportions in our beloved America during our lifetime? It’s not even mildly implied in the Nostradamus quatrains. Certainly, there was a reference to the September 11 attack by a man in a turban. But nothing mentioned by Nostradamus about 200,000…
YOU have just received an invitation to the offices of the Internal Revenue Service. They want to examine your return. Don’t panic. All these years, you have stashed funds for a rainy day. This is a rainy day. Here are tips to cover you from the rain: 1. Prepare. This is the best line of…
WHEN the virus makes your income disappear overnight, it can be very frightening to realize that you can’t go very long without it because your bills don’t stop just because your income did. No one ever wants to file bankruptcy. But if you are one of the millions laid off and don’t even know whether…
DR. Jan Weber worked for 5 years as a psychiatrist for the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, a public hospital in Santa Clara County. He was assigned at the hospital’s child and adolescent psychiatry department. During his employment, Dr. Weber complained to his supervisors about substandard patient care and unsafe work conditions, including the following:…
YES, I know, audits are serious stuff. But they do funny stuff to people like you when you are under audit, under stress. I have seen clients pretend to be cool when they are actually scared. My advice is for you to act naturally; otherwise, the auditor may think that the return is also a…
THE Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a federal law that was enacted in 1978 by the United States Congress to protect consumers from abusive debt collectors. Note, however, that the FDCPA applies only to third party collectors who collect debt for original creditors. It does not apply to the original creditor itself who…
Protecting consumers against sellers ANGELA Bolger bought a replacement laptop computer battery on Amazon.com, which was being sold by “E-Life,” a fictitious name used on Amazon by Lenoge Technology (HK) Ltd., a foreign corporation. Amazon charged Bolger for the purchase, retrieved the laptop battery from its location in an Amazon warehouse, prepared the battery for…
MANY people find themselves in the position of facing overwhelming debt, with constant calls from creditors and no obvious way out. For some, job loss sent them into a downward spiral, and they are now unable to pay their bills and meet their responsibilities. For others, a recent divorce or costly medical emergency drained their…
THE first client is 75. Her husband passed four years ago and left her with $30,000 of credit card debt. She has been making minimum payments on their credit cards for the last 15 years as far as she can recall at the rate of $800 a month. So in one year, she pays about…
YOU have one shot in asking the IRS to abate (forgive) penalties that have been assessed for late filing, late payment, or audit adjustments. Make this opportunity count. Submit a compelling letter supported with convincing evidence as to why the IRS should abate your penalties. Here’s a list of records to submit to IRS: •…
Your right to expression in the workplace Q: I SAW your article about employee protections for political activities like attending rallies. What about posting political messages on Facebook or other social media sites? Can my employer legally fire me for postings like these? Do they have the right to ask me to take my posts…
THE COVID-19 pandemic has changed everyone’s life in only a matter of months. As the virus continues to batter the economy, a lot of people are finding bankruptcy as their only way out. This is a sad reality but if you look on the bright side under the grim circumstances in which you find yourself…
IS there a constitutional right to file for bankruptcy? Yes, there is. The United States Constitution adopted 250 years ago provides for the creation of bankruptcy courts and the power to administer them. Our founding fathers believed that people should be given a chance to have a fresh start in life to become productive again…
IT’S bad enough to receive a tax bill from the IRS. It gets worse when penalties and interest are added. Malo. 1. If the penalty is minimal, do it yourself. You may want to ask a tax accountant to review your letter. 2 .If the amount is substantial, ask a tax professional to represent you….
1. THE failure-to-file penalty is generally more than the failure-to-pay penalty. If you cannot pay all the taxes you owe, file anyway to prevent the more costly failure-to-file penalty. 2. The failure-to-file penalty is 5% per month of the unpaid taxes, not to exceed 25%. 3. The failure-to-pay penalty is only ½% per month, not…
Your work and your right to political expression Q: I CARE about today’s issues of social justice – from racial inequality to voting rights suppression to fighting for decent wages. I want to participate in peaceful demonstrations, but wanted to know its effect on my job. Can I be terminated from work if I join…
IF you’re in debt and are considering bankruptcy as an option for you to get needed relief, perhaps just hearing the word “bankruptcy” makes you extremely nervous. Maybe the word conjures up images in your mind of losing everything you have and not having a financial future. Relax. It’s not what you think. Regardless of…
THE client is 53. He is married and owns a house. He used to have a business, which was a DBA sole proprietorship. “DBA” means “doing business as.” Sole proprietorship means that an individual conducts a business in his personal capacity, without a corporation, or other kind of business entity. Other business entities used to…
PATRICIA Samson worked as a portfolio manager for Wells Fargo Bank. On October 28, 2014, Patricia informed her supervisors that she would take a medical leave of absence to recover from chronic endometriosis. The next day, Gwin, her supervisor, sent a meeting invitation entitled “Patricia Displacement Conversation” to his boss, Stender Sweeney. In the message,…
AS our tax laws become more complex, we find it more difficult to comply. The COVID-19 pandemic makes compliance even more challenging. As we fail to comply in filing or paying required taxes, the IRS hits us with certain penalties. The source of these penalties is the Internal Revenue Code which imposes various civil penalties…
WHAT are friends for? Friends, of course, like to help each other. But to what extent and what favors can you ask from a friend? The client’s friend wanted to set up a restaurant. The friend was a chef who had just graduated from culinary school. His idea was to serve street food from his…
LIKE most people, you’ve worked hard and have done your best to pay all your bills on time. But in life, at one time or another, we all find ourselves in a a situation where debt can be overwhelming. Many people feel hopeless and powerless over their debt problems. Debt problems can easily spill over…
KAREN Martinez worked as a Case Manager for John Muir Health, a health care service corporation operating primarily in Contra Costa County, CA. Martinez was an hourly non-exempt employee who was regularly scheduled to work from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with supposedly a 30-minute unpaid off-duty meal period. When the employer instituted cost cutting…
IRS penalties have been consolidated into two groups: A uniform accuracy-related penalty and a fraud penalty. 1. Accuracy-related penalties are computed at 20% of underpayments attributable to any of the following: A. Negligence or disregard of rules or regulations, B. Substantial understatement of income tax, C. Substantial valuation overstatement, D. Substantial overstatement of pension liabilities….
THE client is 67. Her husband passed away five years ago after a long fight with kidney failure. He was on dialysis for eight years waiting for a kidney transplant. It’s a long wait to get new kidneys from a donor. The average waiting period is 10 years. However, just because it’s been 10 years…
MAYBE you’ve experienced this before. You’re driving down the road one cold, chilly day and before you know it, you find yourself surrounded by a thick white wall of dense fog. How did you react to the situation? If you’re like most people, perhaps you felt momentarily lost and confused or perhaps even panicked, not…
YOUR penalties may be abated (forgiven) if you can prove Reasonable Cause. Here are some tips for you: • You don’t have a background in finance or taxation • You exercised due diligence by going to a competent tax adviser. • You went to a tax professional. • You even hired a CPA (Certified Public…
