Purcell Tax Services

01/03/2026

Looking for a tax pro this year? Someone familiar with all of the tax provisions under OBBA? Want someone locally based and experienced? Someone that get you in quickly? Want a fair price that isn't upcharged because you have credits to claim like the child tax credit? Not sure what tax forms you need? Purcell Tax Services may be for you.

I have open time slots. I'm local and I keep my prices reasonable. I'm up on all of the new tax provisions for this year. I can help you figure out what forms are required. Because I don't upcharge for every credit and every form, I often beat pricing for DIY sites such as TurboTax. I can give you guidance on how to save on your taxes - even if you don't itemize. And I include audit protection with every personal return - something that can cost you an additional $40 or more elsewhere. If you end up owing for 2024, I can help you figure out how to adjust for the coming year.

Check it my website with pricing and if this looks good, then
book online at: https://brucepurcell.youcanbook.me

or call/text me at 208-495-6522.

https://www.purcell.us
https://nextdoor.com/pages/purcell-tax-services-nampa-id
https://www.facebook.com/PurcellTaxServices

Personal taxes. Professionally prepared.

02/22/2025

So, it seems that Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting is back on. For now. The challenges are continuing but the latest in this saga is that reporting requirements are back on and are currently due by March 21.

There are a number of companies offering to file for you. There is no need to fall for this - they are going to have to collect the information from you and then submit it. There are no calculations, nothing extra to do, so why pay someone to do what you can do directly and for free? Save your money.

Filing is pretty easy. You can file here: https://fincen.gov/boi Their website is a bit busy - if you don't need all the "how to" information, look directly for the box that says "File".

Who has to file? Here are the basic categories that will need to file. As always, I won't say this is definitive - check the site for detailed information. For instance, I'm skipping foreign entity requirements as I don't deal with any. There are also many exemptions, none of which I'm covering because none of the clients that I would deal with fall into them. But feel free to ask.

So, here we go with who must file:
Sole proprietors with an LLC must file
Partnerships must file
S Corps must file
C Corps must file (though this is primary category loaded with exemptions)

In general - these entities file once for the entire entity listing all beneficial owners.

Who does not need to file:
Sole proprietors that are NOT an LLC
Trusts
Beneficiaries in such things as wills

Personally, I feel that this is government overreach at its finest. As much as they say they aren't targeting middle- and lower-income people, that's exactly what BOI does - the exemptions come for the usual big companies.

Having said that - the penalties are huge. If you're required to file, I'd get it done, cuss it and move on. At least they're not charging you for the nonsense.

Beneficial ownership information reporting requirements are now back in effect, with a new deadline of March 21, 2025, for most companies. Prior to March 21, 2025, FinCEN will assess its options for further modifying deadlines. For more information, see our website https://fincen.gov/boi.

02/02/2025

Tax time is here! If you don't have your tax docs yet, they should arrive soon - they're due to you now. I have heard some brokerage firms are getting tax docs out around February 15th though.
If you're looking for a tax pro and haven't booked an appointment yet, schedules are filling up fast. I'd recommend booking an appointment, even if you're missing a document or two. By booking for next week, you hold your spot. In the event your docs still haven't arrive, your return can be started and held - any missing documents can be handled remotely after an initial meeting and your return will be ready to go once that final document arrives.

Here are some reasons to use Purcell Tax Services:

1. Experience - over 40 years covering all types of returns, personal and business
2. Prices - check my prices at http://www.purcell.us
3. I support veterans - I always discount 10% for active duty and veterans
4. Audit protection – all personal returns include audit protection
5. Now, you can book online! Of course you can also call, text or message me for an appointment.

Book online at: https://brucepurcell.youcanbook.me/
Phone/text: (208) 495-6522
Email: [email protected]

Choose what time works better to schedule a meeting.

01/24/2025

Looking for a tax pro this year? Want someone locally based and experienced? Someone that get you in quickly? Want a fair price that isn't upcharged because you have credits to claim like the child tax credit? Not sure what tax forms you need? Purcell Tax Services may be for you.

I have open time slots. I'm local and I keep my prices reasonable. I can help you figure out what forms are required. Because I don't upcharge for every credit and every form, I often beat pricing for DIY sites such as TurboTax. I can give you guidance on how to save on your taxes - even if you don't itemize. And I include audit protection with every personal return - something that can cost you an additional $40 elsewhere. If you end up owing for 2024, I can help you figure out how to adjust for the coming year.

Here's my website with my pricing: http://www.purcell.us. Check it out and if this looks good, then
book online at: https://brucepurcell.youcanbook.me or call/text me at 208-495-6522.

https://nextdoor.com/pages/purcell-tax-services-nampa-id
https://www.facebook.com/PurcellTaxServices

Personal taxes. Professionally prepared.

12/10/2024

If you're a business owner, you may have seen something about a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirement. First the good news - this reporting requirement has been put on hold by a federal court. For now, this reporting requirement is on hold. It is expected that this will proceed through the courts, landing as a Constitutional challenge with the Supreme Court. We'll see how it progresses.

BOI is a result of the Corporate Transparency Act passed in 2021 by Congress. The theory is that it will combat illicit business activity and fraud by having businesses file a report. This is a one-time report that is due to be filed by Jan 1 by businesses that aren't exempt. Filing would be done on the government's Financial Crimes Enforcement (FinCEN) site. This is a link to that site for detailed information: https://www.fincen.gov/boi Please be careful - there are a number of sites wanting you to pay them to file - only file directly on this government site - there is no cost.

As I deal with relatively small clients (under $1m) - all of my S-Corp clients would be required to file. All of my Limited Partnership clients would have to file. Sole proprietors, LLC sole proprietors and general partnerships are exempt. This is a one-time filing - it is not an annual filing requirement.

Of course, our government welcomes you to file now despite the current status in the courts. My belief is that the lawsuits are correct and that this will not survive the Constitutional challenges. I would not file a BOI report until the court challenges are completed. Of course, I'm not a lawyer, so please don't think I'm giving legal advice on this - that is just what I believe and what I would do. My real advice for you all is to watch this carefully if you're an S-Corp, Limited Partnership or thinking about becoming one.

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04/16/2024

No matter how much I enjoy tax season - and I do really enjoy doing returns - April 16 is still my favorite day!

04/02/2024

The IRS recently published their "Dirty Dozen" scams to watch out for. Check it out here:
https://www.newsweek.com/irs-warns-taxpayers-scams-dirty-dozen-1885514

As always though, I'd like to simplify this a bit. Now, if you're comfortable spotting scams and/or responding to legitimate IRS letters, then you won't need this. If not, then here you are:

If you get a call from anyone claiming to be from the IRS: Hang up. Mark the number as spam.

If you get an unexpected email from anyone claiming to be connected with the IRS: Mark it as spam.

If you get a letter purporting to be from the IRS: Take it to your favorite tax pro. Your local tax pro will know if it's legit or not.

Seriously, the IRS will never call you out of the blue. They won't send you email out of the blue. They won't threaten you with arrest or anything else. They won't demand gift cards. They communicate primarily by USPS mail until your case is well-established and then using other methods by request. Over 90% of all audits and all non-audit items such as corrections are done completely by postal mail. All audits are started with notice by mail.

So, what do you do if you receive one of those pesky letters? See a local tax pro. Don't hire some online company. This is true for anything you might do with the IRS. Want to look at their Fresh Start program to see about reducing your current liability that you can't pay? See a local tax pro or a major well-known company that won't make promises they can't keep. Do not go to these places that tell you how much of your debt they can relieve - they will take your money and get nothing for you.

So, do I recommend any well-known local tax pros? Well, I'm one in the Treasure Valley in Idaho! If I did your return, then you know you have audit protection included in the cost of your return and I'm going to help you at no cost. If I didn't do your return, my fees are far less than most. Yep, I'll ask for upfront payment on these and I won't promise results, but that is as good as it gets. If anyone even makes it sound like you're automatically eligible to reduce your debt or that they can win your case, then you need to run from that firm. I'll give you an honest appraisal of your situation, an honest evaluation of what I can do for you and an honest estimate of success.

The IRS has warned of phishing and smishing scams to avoid in the leadup to Tax Day.

01/31/2024

Looking for a tax pro? Want someone locally based and experienced? Want a fair price that isn't upcharged because you have credits to claim? Not sure what tax forms you need? Purcell Tax Services may be for you.

I'm local and I keep my prices reasonable. I can help you figure out what forms to look for. Because I don't upcharge for every credit and every form, I often beat pricing for DIY sites such as TurboTax. I can give you guidance on how to save on your taxes - even if you don't itemize. And, I include audit protection with every personal return - something that can cost you an additional $40-$100 elsewhere. Finally, if you end up owing for 2023, I can help you figure out how to adjust for the coming year.

Here's my website with my pricing: http://www.purcell.us. Check it out and if this looks good, then feel free to give me a call to schedule an appointment.

https://nextdoor.com/pages/purcell-tax-services-nampa-id
https://www.facebook.com/PurcellTaxServices

Personal taxes. Professionally prepared.

01/09/2024

Time to start gathering your tax docs!

01/09/2024

So, you've taken the dive into gig work. Or, you're already self-employed. You're been reading about the changes where PayPal or Venmo or eBay will be sending you a 1099-k for your sales and payments. What the heck does that all mean?

It means that Congress has lowered the limits on reporting. It's been unsuccessful thus far and they've changed the implementation dates, confusing this even more. But an important note - they have not changed your income reporting requirements nor have they increased the taxes.

As a rule, you are required to report all of your income, whether you get a tax form or not. Now, this probably doesn't affect your selling of personal items - more on that further down. But, if you do some gig work and receive a couple of C notes for your effort, you have a requirement to report that and pay taxes on it. You have always had that requirement, but it's been easier to ignore until now.

So, what's the change? Well, it used to be that for some tax forms that there was no requirement that a company issue you a tax form until you hit $20,000. That is generally true for 1099-k forms. The most common issuers of 1099-k forms are Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and similar. But, eBay and Venmo use these as well. The reason that people are up in arms is because they believe that with no tax form, there is no reason to pay income taxes on that income. The change is that these vendors will have to start issuing forms at $600, similar to the 1099-nec or 1099-misc forms.

Obviously this isn't going over well tax payers as it closes up their own personal little loophole. They're screaming mad. So, the requirement has been moved back and is scheduled to be phased in. For this year, companies will have to issue those forms at $5,000.

The bigger problem is that the $600 limit was announced and some companies started taking action. Then the requirement was reversed. And put back in. Then the decision to implement gradually. So, we have some companies that have done their programming and are set and issuing those 1099-k forms at $600 and others at the $5,000 mark. And, it's perfectly okay to issue them at $600. So, you might make $800 from Company A and get a 1099-k and $800 from Company B and receive nothing.

Now, what about those eBay sales? If you sell enough to warrant receiving a 1099-k for selling nothing but personal items, do you have to pay taxes on it? Probably not but maybe. If you sell at a loss, then no. If you sell at a profit, then yes. Let's say you have a 5 year old car that you paid $30,000 for. You sell it for $20,000 and receive a 1099-k. You will be able to report the sales price and the selling price, thus avoiding paying taxes. No, the loss will not reduce your income though. It's a one-way street unfortunately. If you scroll to my Dec 22, 2022 post, there is a lot more detail on this.

Your friendly tax pro can walk you through reporting and not paying taxes where none are due. Yep, I'm one of those friendly tax pros that can do that for you. Don't hesitate to give me a call - I'm open for business and ready for the tax season.

Call now to connect with business.

12/20/2023

If you're a senior at Medicare age, it can pay you to be familiar with IRMAA. IRMAA stands for Income-Related Monthly Adjusted Amount. It is the law that can jack up the cost of your Medicare based on your income.

Here's the bottom line - if you make too much, your Medicare premium can go up. Substantially. Now, if your retirement income is high enough through pensions then you're stuck. The biggest problem is that one-time income counts. Granted that is year to year, but it really does count, and you can find yourself paying much higher premiums for that year when you didn't need to. Talk to a tax pro first! Yep, I’ll charge you a consulting fee. But I may save you a ton of money.

So, first, how does it work? Your 2022 income reported on your 2023 return will determine your 2024 rates. Simple, right? It'll be the same for each year. Your 2023 income reported on your 2024 return will affect your 2025 rates.

So, what kind of income counts? Obviously, all job and pension income counts. Interest/dividend income counts. The taxable portion of Social Security income counts. Then you start looking at one-time income. Outside of your IRA/401k/etc. - did you make a sale that generated capital gains income? It counts. Did you take a large one-time IRA withdrawal because you wanted to pay for that cool new truck? It counts. Did you sell your home or rental house for a large enough gain to be paying capital gains? It counts. Did you get divorced as the primary bread winner and suddenly have all that income as a single person instead of married? It counts. Did you have to take a distribution from an inherited IRA? It counts. Getting the idea? Pretty much everything counts if it is on your tax return.

So, how do you avoid this? Well, you look at the charts and figure out how to stay under that amount. Let's say you want to buy that really cool truck and you need to take $50,000 from your IRA. Let's say that $30,000 will put you into that higher bracket. Well, maybe you take $25,000 now and $25,000 in January to avoid the IRMAA hit. Same with capital gains sales. Want to sell $50,000 worth of mutual funds? It might be better to break the sale across the years. Your friendly tax pro can help you do the calculations in terms of your income. Of course, we can't tell you that stock prices won't decrease between now and January - there are limitations on what we can do. So, the final decision is always up to you.

Oops - I already sold my house for so much that I made a huge gain and received a letter from Social Security telling me that my Medicare rates are going up. Can I appeal that decision?

The short answer is yes. It is known as requesting reconsideration. The better answer is that it is an uphill battle and the accepted reasons for reconsideration are tight.

There are eight reasons that reconsideration might be accepted. The first is the easiest - there is an error in your return and you're doing an amendment to fix it that will lower your income.

The other seven reasons are what are known as qualifying life-changing events. These events are: Death of spouse, Marriage, Divorce or annulment, Work reduction, Work stoppage, Loss of income from income producing property, Loss or reduction of certain kinds of pension income.

Having suffered one of these events isn't an automatic grant of reconsideration. You'll also need to show how the event is affecting your income to the point that you cannot afford the increase. Not all tax pros can help with this (some can) but there are also Social Security/Medicare specialists that may be able to assist in your request.

If you're hiring someone please remember - no one can promise results. Social Security makes the determination. A professional can promise to do their best to represent your key points to them. And the information they have is what you provide them. If you're talking to someone about assisting you, be sure that they know what events can be considered and how to hit those key points. If you're eligible for reconsideration, you want your points to be direct - a lot of extra fluff can confuse or lose the person making the determination.

If denied, there are appeals available. At that point though, there's a good chance that you'll want an attorney. It's never required to hire someone - you can represent yourself. But once again, it pays to have a professional that can key in on the relevant points for you.