Juliana H. Wong, CPA

03/21/2020

"All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties."

08/24/2017

Do you have a large mortgage balance? If you do, are you aware that only interest paid on the first $1.1 mil of your mortgage is deductible for regular and alternative minimum tax purposes (AMT)? Furthermore, do you know that certain refinancing can also limit your mortgage interest deduction?

In summer 2015, Congress passed a bill that contains an obscure statutory change that requires lenders to disclose more information about your loan to the IRS. Now that IRS has more information about your loan, they may step up scrutiny of your mortgage deductions to close the budget gap.

So, be aware of the important changes to your mortgage statement. Just because your Form 1098 says you paid a certain amount of interest doesn't automatically mean that you can deduct the full amount.

If you are not certain how you might be affected, get in touch.

05/12/2017

Did you know that con artists posing as Internal Revenue Service representatives frequently try to scam people out of their money? While this is a long-standing problem, the IRS has issued a new warning against thieves who may contact people on the phone or via email or a letter and try to trick them into divulging personal financial information, such as their Social Security or bank account numbers, or sending cash. And the scams can be tough to spot. Potential victims may see a fake caller ID that identifies the call as coming from the IRS or receive mail or email that appears to have the IRS letterhead or one that resembles the IRS website. The scammers typically try to intimidate victims into acting quickly—by, say, sending a payment to what they claim is an IRS address—by threatening arrest or some other consequence.

If you receive an IRS communication that seems suspicious or doesn’t make sense, please call my office. Whether you are facing a legitimate tax issue or a scam, I can help you sort through the details and determine how to respond. You can report incidents to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484 or online. Remember, too, that the IRS website is www.irs.gov, so be on alert if you’re directed to another similar site that ends in .com or .net instead of .gov.

09/09/2016

October 15th is right around the corner. If you have not filed your taxes, talk to your CPA now to avoid last-minute headaches. Also, for those who need to make quarterly estimated tax payments, don't forget to make your 3rd quarter Federal estimates for 2016 by Thursday 9/15.

05/17/2016

Are you considering making a donation in 2016? If you are, consider contributing to CA's College Access Tax Credit Fund. It funds college education for low income families. For every dollar you donate, you will receive a $0.50 CA tax credit that can be use to offset your CA taxes. For more information, please refer to http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/cefa/catc/index.asp.

Senate Bill 798 (De Leon), the College Access Tax Credit Act, was signed into law by Governor Brown on September 16, 2014.