The Research and Development (R&D) credit has become an integral part of tax planning for businesses in the United States since its inception almost forty years ago. The credit was originally enacted to help spur competitiveness and creativity for the United States compared to other countries.

Since the inception of cryptocurrency in 2009, the very concept of currency has been challenged and debated. This article explains briefly what cryptocurrency is, how it works, and the current federal income tax implications on transactions using cryptocurrency.

According to the IRS 26 C.F.R. § 1.6109-2(d), “Beginning after December 31, 2010, all tax return preparers must have a preparer tax identification number or other prescribed identifying number that was applied for and received at the time and in the manner, including the payment of a user fee, as may be prescribed by the Internal Revenue Service.” However, since June 2017, the IRS has suspended this fee charged for a “practitioner tax identification number” or PTIN.

Earlier this year Customs and Border Protection officers in Nogales, Arizona seized 254 pounds of fentanyl that was hidden in the floor compartment of a truck transporting cucumbers. Fentanyl is a deadly opioid (in powder form) that is often masked and /or mixed with heroin. It is responsible for thousands of deaths in the United States. A quarter milligram of the drug (the equivalent of several grains of rice) has the potential to kill a person quickly.

Tax accounting methods, and the ability to change those methods, are key issues for taxpayers.  Proper tax accounting methods, and continuing IRS changes to their method-change procedures, are at the front and center of all IRS audits. Tax accounting methods and their change procedures certainly have heightened awareness and importance to tax practitioners; and this is the rule yet again for this tax year.