Over the past few weeks, we have received dozens of calls from clients, who have received tax notices from both the Internal Revenue Service and the State of Ohio.
Ohio Sets Sales Tax Holiday For Aug. 7
Zinner & Co. Tax Team Taxes - Planning, Rules and Returns , taxThe pandemic is not stopping Ohio’s observation of its annual sales tax holiday.
The event kicks off on midnight on Aug. 7 and lasts until Aug. 9 at 11:59 p.m.
During the “holiday,” the following items are exempt from sales and use tax:
IRS Clarifies 90-Day Payment Relief
Zinner & Co. Tax Team tax services , Taxes - Corporate & Business , Taxes - Planning, Rules and Returns , Taxes - Individual , tax , taxes , income tax , Zinner & Co. , Coronavirus , Treasury Department , COVID-19 , Deferring Tax PaymentsOn March 18, the Internal Revenue Service provided clarification to special payment relief for individuals and businesses in response to the COVID-19 Outbreak.
For individual returns, income tax payment deadlines with a due date of April 15, 2020, are automatically extended until July 15, 2020, for up to $1 million of their 2019 tax due.
This payment relief applies to all individual returns, including self-employed individuals, and all entities other than C-Corporations, such as trusts or estates. The IRS will automatically provide this relief to taxpayers. Taxpayers do not need to file any additional forms or call the IRS to qualify for this relief.
IRS Deferring Tax Payments by 90 Days
Zinner & Co. Tax Department tax services , Taxes - Corporate & Business , Taxes - Planning, Rules and Returns , Taxes - Individual , tax , taxes , IRS , Coronavirus , Treasury Department , Steven Mnuchin , COVID-19 , Deferring Tax PaymentsTax Deadline Remains April 15
While taxpayers still have to file their taxes by April 15, 2020, the deadline to pay taxes has been extended by 90 days until July 15, 2020.
During a March 17th press conference regarding the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced taxpayers will have an additional 90-days through July 15, 2020 to pay their taxes, penalty-free and interest-free.
He said individual taxpayers can defer up to $1 million of tax payments and corporations up to $10 million in tax payments.
Welcome 2020 Tax Season Interns
Zinner & Co. Tax Team Taxes - Planning, Rules and Returns , Taxes - Individual , tax , Zinner & Co. , Tax InternsZinner & Co. is proud to introduce our new 2020 tax season interns. We hope this snapshot of them will help you get to know them, as some of our clients will be receiving communications from our interns, as they will work on tax returns this season.
The Benefits of Filing a Tax Extension
Brett W. Neate, CPA, MTax tax services , Taxes - Corporate & Business , Taxes - Planning, Rules and Returns , Taxes - Individual , tax , taxes , income taxOne of the most common tax-related misconceptions is that filing a tax extension increases your risk of a tax audit.
This longstanding myth is simply not true, as filing a tax extension can statistically decrease the risk of an audit.
In addition to statistically decreasing the risk of an audit, there is also one other benefit to extending a tax return.
Plan for Tax Season
Brett W. Neate, CPA, MTax tax services , Taxes - Corporate & Business , Taxes - Planning, Rules and Returns , Taxes - Individual , tax , taxes , income tax , tax avoidanceMany individuals may think the time to plan for tax season occurs during the tax season, which occurs after their tax year has ended.
Unfortunately, this is often too late to make any adjustments, which may have benefited the taxpayer.
Similarly, businesses can also fall into this line of thinking and fail to plan for tax season during their tax year.
IRS Announces it Will Waive Tax Penalties for Under-Withholding and Underpayment for Some
Zinner & Co. Tax Team withholding , tax , income tax , IRS , Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017The IRS announced this week in IRS Notice 2019-11 that it would not penalize taxpayers whose tax withholding and estimated tax payments fell short last year due to failing to change their withholding under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Zinner & Co. tax , taxes , not-for-profit , Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017One Effect of the Recent Tax Reform on Not-for-Profit Organizations
By Howard J. Kass, CPA, CGMA, AEP®
As often as employers are maligned, there are times where they try to do the right thing for their employees. To be fair, many times, an employer may take an action or incur an expense that benefits its employees, knowing that the employer will benefit by a tax deduction for incurring an expense. In some cases, Congress encourages such behavior by explicitly permitting favorable tax treatment for certain programs.
One such case was a set of fringe benefits known as the “qualified transportation fringe” benefits that, in fact, received a double-barreled tax benefit for years, by virtue of Internal Revenue Code Section (IRC) 132(f)(5)(C). Under that section, employers were allowed to take a deduction for, among other things, qualified parking fringe benefits that they provided to their employees. What, exactly, was a qualified parking fringe benefit? Under IRC 132(f)(5)(C), “qualified parking” meant parking provided to an employee on or near the business premises of the employer, or on or near a location from which the employee commutes to work by transportation described in Code Sec. 132(f)(5)(A) (relating to “transit passes”), in a commuter highway vehicle, or by carpool.
Scam Alert: Fraudsters Posing as Taxpayer Advocacy Panel
Zinner & Co. Tax Department Brett W. Neate , Taxes - Corporate & Business , Taxes - Planning, Rules and Returns , Business - Management, Issues & Concerns , Taxes - Individual , tax , cybersecurity , IRSSome taxpayers receive emails that appear to be from the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) about a tax refund. These emails are a phishing scam, trying to trick victims into providing personal and financial information.
Do not respond or click any link. If you receive this scam, forward it to phishing@irs.gov and note that it seems to be a scam phishing for your information.
TAP is a volunteer board that advises the IRS on systemic issues affecting taxpayers. It never requests, and does not have access to, any taxpayer’s personal and financial information.
About Us

Since 1938, Zinner has counseled individuals and businesses from start-up to succession. At Zinner, we strive to ensure we understand your business and recognize threats that could impact your financial situation.