I've finally discovered the real secret of these holidays. It is the one common thread through every faith this time of year, and it is one of the most unifying factors in our Western culture. Shopping. I say that with a good helping of eye-rolling. Whichever faith...

Well, communication and requests are now coming across my desk in a way that we haven't seen for a few months, but I've come to expect it for this time of the year. We are in our intense "preparatory" stage for tax season AND so are our (smarter) clients. I absolutely...

As is my habit, this email is being composed on Monday ... and today happens to be good ol' Cyber Monday. I say "good ol" because, well, the days are long gone when the actual rationale behind it was true: remember -- everyone had dial-up at home, and Monday was the...

You know how Thanksgiving as a federal holiday got its start, don't you? I'm not talking pilgrims here ... but more about why we all have a few days off this week. Smack in the middle of horrendous civil war, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November...

I think there are two components to our shared reaction about the events in Paris on Friday. On one hand, we have the grief... Seeing those gruesome images, imagining the regular families whose lives have been forever upended ... it's all so immeasurably sad. And what...

So, last week I wrote you about your holiday spending, and making sure that you don't find yourself caught up in all the merchandising and hooha -- specifically of the retail variety. (Let's ALL get caught up in the transcendent beauty of the season, shall we?) And it...

It's hard to believe, but Thanksgiving is this month. The October Classic is in the books (congrats to the KC Royals), and parents everywhere are enjoying their parental "Candy Tax". It feels like a seasonal page has truly been turned. And right around the corner will...

Many people think that preparing taxes for a living is a somewhat easy assignment. Bless their hearts. It's NOT just "filling in the boxes" and having the spreadsheets or the software spit out the results. I wish it were so simple. There's three big reasons why it's...

Last week, we tied a bow around all of our client tax returns for 2015, i.e. for "tax year 2014", as the extension deadline came and went. It feels good to turn the page and move into our intensive preparation season for tax season 2016. (And now I'm searching for a...