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Ken Berry, JD

CPA Practice Advisor Tax Correspondent

Ken Berry, Esq., is a nationally-known writer and editor specializing in tax and financial planning matters. During a career of more than 35 years, he has served as managing editor of a publisher of content-based marketing tools and vice president of an online continuing education company in the financial services industry. As a freelance writer, Ken has authored thousands of articles for a wide variety of newsletters, magazines and other periodicals, emphasizing a sense of wit and clarity.

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Security

IRS Proposal Puts Social Security Numbers of Donors at Risk

A new proposed regulation that would result in some nonprofit organizations reporting the Social Security numbers of donors to the IRS is drawing fire from the conservative sector.

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Financial Reporting

Year-End Insights for State and Local Taxes

The deduction for taxes claimed on Schedule A includes amounts paid for state and local income taxes such as the taxes withheld from your paychecks and any estimated taxes paid during the year. It also includes property taxes if you’re a homeowner.

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Income Tax

The Easiest Way to Lower Income Tax Liability

With income tax planning now on the minds of many taxpayers and tax professionals, our year-end tax planning series looks at several methods to lower tax liability in the current year.

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Technology

IRS Watchdog Cites Failures, Concerns over 2015 Tax Filing Season

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson has released a report on the state of affairs at the IRS. There was plenty to complain about during the first half of 2015, but it remains to be seen how much the IRS can improve.

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Taxpayer Fails to Hit Jackpot as Professional Gambler

The tax law provides some "tax insurance” for gambling activities. Generally, you can deduct the amount of your losses up to the amount of your winnings if you keep the proper records. But you can’t deduct an overall loss or related business expense.

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Accounting

The ABCs of Higher Education Tax Breaks

One of the groups working on tax reform for the Senate Finance Committee (SFC) has just recommended that the two higher education credits and the tuition deduction be combined into a single credit. But significant tax reform is still in its infancy.

Benefits

New Healthcare Penalty Can Sneak Up on Employers

Effective midway through this year -- July 1, 2015, to be exact – certain employers that pay the health insurance premiums of its employees will be assessed hefty fines for their generosity.

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Benefits

Healthcare Cadillac Tax Might Drive Employers to Drink

The provision for so-called Cadillac plans doesn’t take effect until January 1, 2018. But employers are already exploring the available options or at least they should be. Reason: If a plan exceeds certain limits, it is subject to a stiff penalty in ...

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Benefits

How to Find Some Golden Nuggets In Retirement Planning

The tax break for “net unrealized appreciation” (NUA) is one of the biggest tax breaks on the books for retirement-savers, but it is often overlooked.

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Benefits

How To Put Roth IRA Distributions in Order

Practically every Roth IRA owner knows that you can take qualified distributions from the account without paying any tax on the withdrawals. That’s why many of your clients set up the Roth in the first place. But it’s not as well-known that ...

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Benefits

Why Solo 401(k) Plans Have an Edge

For many years, self-employed individuals shied away from 401(k) plans. It was usually too costly and cumbersome to administer such a plan for just a single participant. But now the “solo 401(k)” is a more viable alternative for this segment of the ...

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Advisory

IRS to Go Where No Agency Has Gone Before

According to a new report by the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC), the IRS has made significant strides on the electronic frontier, but the mission is far from complete.