DPS Legal Counsel
Helping health professionals and entrepreneurs navigate the business of healthcare and the business of business
DPS Legal Counsel protects the business, regulatory, contract, transactional, intellectual property, compliance, and tax interests of health practices and small businesses from initial formation through founder retirement and practice/business succession
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Recent Blog Posts
Taxability of Litigation Settlement Proceeds
Yesterday, the U.S. Tax Court issued an opinion in the case of Ruffin v. Commissioner, that provides helpful information as to how to determine if litigation settlement proceeds are taxable or not. In short, you must look at the nature of the claim that is the basis...
IRS Set to Become the New and Improved “Real-Time” IRS
Next week, the IRS will begin the "toe-dipping" process of unveiling what it hopes to become a new kind of IRS. On December 8, the IRS will hold the first of several planned public meetings to gather feedback from tax professsionals and the public about the IRS's plan...
IRS Interest Rates for 1st Quarter 2012
The IRS interest rates for the first quarter of 2012 (January through March 2012) have been released, and they are the same rates that are in effect for the fourth and final quarter of 2011. The rates are: three (3) percent for overpayments [two (2) percent in the...
Increase Your Vocabulary–Read a Tax Court Case
Who ever said that case law is dry, and that judges only know how to speak eye-glazing "legalese?" Not me. I've read enough tax cases to know that not only can tax law be entertaining, but that judges can have impressive senses of humor (not to mention, large...
The Once and Future Real-Time Tax System
Yesterday, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman spoke at the AICPA fall meeting. When the IRS Commissioner speaks, we should all listen for clues as to what is in store for us as taxpayers. Commissioner Shulman talked about a number of things, including the return preparer...
How Do You Spell Government Piling On? COI
COI is one of those tax acronyms that strikes fear in the heart of those who speak tax-ese. COI stands for "cancellation of indebtedness." Under the Internal Revenue Code, and under certain circumstances, if you owe money to a creditor and you simply cannot pay...
A Short History of the Income Tax
In an opinion piece in today's Wall Street Journal, John Steele Gordon traces the evolution of the U.S. income tax system, both the personal income tax and the corporate income tax. It is interesting and, I think, it should be required reading for every Congressman,...
IRS Issues Guidance for Tax Return Preparers
The IRS released Notice 2011-80 yesterday, which provides additional guidance for paid tax return preparers. One of the key points discussed in the new IRS guidance is that paid tax return preparers will need to renew on an annual basis their Preparer Tax...
Has Your Biz Been Misclassifying Employees as Independent Contractors? Here’s A Great Opportunity to Get into Compliance!
The Internal Revenue Service announced a new program today that will allow employers who have been misclassifying workers as independent contractors rather than as employees to get into compliance with a minimum of fuss and expense. The new program is called the...
Lower Taxes Spurs Economy: A Real World Example
60 Minutes recently ran a story about how American companies are moving certain business assets and operations out of the country to places where the corporate tax rates are lower than they are here. At a time when America is in desperate need of jobs, our corporate...