Author: Steve Perry
-
How Early IRS Representation Protects Your Business
Early IRS representation changes which options remain available once a lien or levy notice arrives. Filing a Power of Attorney and meeting the 30-day Collection Due Process deadline preserves negotiating leverage and protects business operating funds. Waiting until enforcement begins often limits a business owner to slower, weaker alternatives with fewer protections.
-
The IRS Can Hold Business Owners Personally Responsible
Business owners often assume payroll tax liability ends when a role changes or a business closes. It does not. The IRS reconciles deposits separately from filings and can interview potentially responsible parties years later, when records and memory have faded, making documentation of your involvement and its end date essential.
-
When Business Tax Problems Become Personal Tax Problems
Business tax problems rarely stay contained to the business. IRS information matching, pass-through K-1 taxation, and Trust Fund Recovery Penalty rules can convert a payroll shortfall or unfiled return into personal liability for owners. This piece explains how those systems connect, why waiting narrows options, and how to manage exposure year-round.
-
Why Good Partnership Agreements Do Not Prevent IRS Problems
A partnership agreement governs how partners deal with each other, not how the partnership deals with the IRS. Steve Perry, EA explains why the partnership representative designation, updated annually on the return, controls IRS procedure regardless of what the agreement says, and why outdated language creates real exposure.
-
Guaranteed Payments, Distributions, and Draws: Avoiding Common Partnership Errors
Guaranteed payments, distributions, and draws follow different tax rules, and confusing them creates real exposure. Steve Perry, EA explains why partners cannot be paid as employees, how draws can exceed basis and trigger taxable gain, and why missed estimated payments lead to avoidable penalties throughout the year.
-
Partnership Tax Problems That Turn Into Expensive IRS Notices
Partnership tax risk does not end when Form 1065 is filed. Ongoing K-1 matching, fixed per partner penalties, and the centralized partnership audit regime create exposure that continues year-round. Steve Perry, EA explains how IRS notices develop and what partnerships and partners should do to stay ahead of enforcement.
-
Shareholder Distributions vs. Payroll: Understanding the Difference Before the IRS Does
Withdrawals from an S-corporation are either wages or distributions, and the two carry different rules. Owners, who wait until filing time to decide which is which lose the chance to withhold and deposit payroll tax correctly and often overlook basis tracking that determines whether a distribution is taxable.
-
Reasonable Compensation: The IRS Rule Many S-Corporation Owners Ignore
Reasonable compensation is not a once-a-year filing decision. It is set through payroll during the year and stays open to IRS review long after. Owners who wait until the next return is prepared to check their salary have already lost the window to correct it for the year that closed.
-
S-Corporation Compliance Mistakes That Attract IRS Attention
S-corporation compliance does not end at filing. IRS matching systems compare payroll, Schedule K-1 data, and shareholder returns throughout the year, and mismatches in reasonable compensation, basis, or unanswered notices narrow options quickly. Ongoing review, not once-a-year filing, protects compliance standing and preserves planning opportunities year-round.
-
Why Borrowing Payroll Taxes Costs More Than Any Loan
Using withheld payroll tax to cover a cash shortfall is not a loan. Penalties reach ten percent within two weeks and fifteen percent after notices, interest compounds daily, and the debt shifts to personal liability that survives bankruptcy. Understanding this cost structure before a deposit is missed preserves far more options.
Tax Delete USA 