Toph’s Tax Triumphs
The holidays are a magical time that brings together loved ones and a little chaos. Between the pie-making and travel plans, it can be easy to forget what we’re gathering to celebrate. This Thanksgiving, let’s not just carve the turkey, but also carve out some time for mindful traditions the whole family can enjoy. From sharing what you’re thankful for to hosting a family Thanksgiving talent show, this year is the perfect chance to create new traditions that deepen connections and spark laughter. Get ready to gobble up the fun together. FILL YOUR HOLIDAY WITH GRATITUDE AND GAMES Whisking Up New Traditions This Thanksgiving
While resolving tax problems for our clients can be complicated, our successes sometimes spring from the most basic principles. We won one recent case largely because we wouldn’t give up. Sheer persistence won our client a 90% break on his tax bill. This client was a self-employed real estate agent who owed the IRS about $75,000–$80,000 for the 2016–2023 tax years. He had actually contacted us years earlier, but decided at that time to hire a different company. He later admitted he had gone with Brand X because they were the cheaper option. In hindsight, he said he wished he hadn’t. The other company made an offer in compromise on his behalf to the IRS, but the agency rejected it, and nothing was accomplished. That’s when the client returned to us for help. Like many self-employed people, this client had failed to have taxes deducted from his income. When he couldn’t pay what he owed at tax time, his debt snowballed. Winning the IRS’s acceptance of offers in compromise can be very difficult, but we believed we could make a good case on his behalf. We made an initial lowball offer of $162, which the IRS rejected. The agency argued that many of our client’s business expenses were actually personal expenses. We appealed the decision and made a strong case that the deductions were legitimate. Our client had to drive to and from showings, manage signage for properties, and pay other miscellaneous expenses just to do business. Fortunately, the IRS agreed, recalculated his income, and came to their compromise offer of $8,358. We won this case because we refused to give up. Also, we do our homework. Some other practitioners simply fill out forms and send them to the IRS, but winning these claims takes more than that. We drill into the details of every client’s case and prepare offers that paint an accurate picture of their situation, taking into account the human factors. We know our client’s strengths and weaknesses and negotiate in a way that emphasizes the former. While this client’s situation was typical in many ways, the unique aspect of his case is that he had reached out earlier, made the mistake of going with the cheaper option … and lived to regret it. Persistence Pays: Winning a Big Break for a Client
GATHER FOR GRATITUDE Thanksgiving is all about honoring what we are grateful for in life,
and it can be a fun activity for you and your children to share. You can gamify gratitude in several ways, like creating a thankfulness jar where everybody adds slips of paper describing
what they most appreciate. You can take turns reading them after dinner and even make a guessing game out of who wrote what. It could be as simple as gathering around the table for breakfast and everyone saying one thing they’re grateful for.
TURKEY DAY TRIVIA There’s no better way to digest after the big Thanksgiving feast than having fun. Pick out some of your favorite board games or a deck of cards for a post-meal game night. You could test everyone’s knowledge with a holiday-themed trivia competition or create a scavenger hunt around the house. No matter the game, ensure everyone from grandparents to kids can join in. Keep it focused on connection, not just winning. If you want to go all out, challenge all your guests to be ready with their best skills for a family talent show. A SOUNDTRACK TO THE STUFFING Create a perfect soundtrack you can play while everyone helps with the cooking or winds down after dessert. Before the big day, ask everyone in the family to add one or two songs to a Thanksgiving playlist. Prompt them to pick tunes that remind them of the season, happy memories, the joys of being together, or even their favorite dishes. You can keep adding to this list in subsequent years, turning the songs into a playable family history.
–Toph Sheldon
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