Thriving with Less IRS: Smart Self-Help Strategies for Tax Pros
The IRS continues to face significant staffing reductions, leaving tax professionals and taxpayers to rely increasingly on self-help tools and digital services. This session explores practical ways to navigate IRS resource constraints by leveraging online accounts, secure communication platforms, and other technology-driven solutions. Participants will gain strategies to streamline compliance, improve client outcomes, and reduce frustration while maintaining high professional standards. The presentation also highlights external resources — from advocacy groups to professional networks — that can strengthen tax practice in an era of limited IRS capacity.
Planes, Yachts & Automobiles: Depreciation Rules for Listed Property Under IRC §280F
Is that business jet, RV, yacht or luxury automobile really deductible? This course tackles the tricky terrain of listed property depreciation, helping tax professionals navigate IRC §280F with confidence and clarity. Whether your client is flying high, cruising the coast, or hitting the highway, this session will help you determine what qualifies, what doesn’t, and how to keep the IRS at bay.
Error, Omission or Tax Crime: IRS Fraud Standards, Proof, and Practitioner Risk
This course provides a practical overview of tax-related fraud as defined by the IRS, focusing on how fraud is identified, developed, and proven in civil and criminal tax matters. Participants will learn the critical distinction between an indication of fraud and an affirmative act of fraud, and why that distinction drives case development, penalties, and potential referral to IRS Criminal Investigation.
IRC §1031 in the Real World: Practical Issues and Compliance Risks
This course provides a technical overview of IRC §1031 like-kind exchanges, focusing on the application of current law and regulations following the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Presented by a former IRS subject matter expert, the course is designed for practitioners who advise on, prepare, or review transactions involving real property exchanges.
Partial Dispositions Explained: Unlocking Losses Under the MACRS Rules
This course provides a practical and technical examination of partial dispositions of MACRS property under Treasury Regulation §1.168(i)-8. Designed for tax practitioners who advise on repairs, improvements, remodels, and asset retirements, the course explains when a partial disposition may or must be recognized, and how the election impacts depreciation, gain or loss recognition, and audit exposure.
Inside the Audit: How the IRS Evaluates Charitable Contribution Appraisals
Charitable contribution deductions often fail not because donors lack generosity or because the donor does not contribute an item of value, but because a donor’s appraisal fails to meet IRS standards that apply the law and regulations. This course examines the appraisal and substantiation rules under IRC §170, with a focus on what actually gets challenged in current audits and examinations. Participants will learn when a qualified appraisal is required, who constitutes a “qualified appraiser,” what are common valuation errors, and how technical defects lead to full or partial disallowance of deductions. Drawing on real enforcement patterns, the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, and case law, this course equips practitioners to spot problems proactively, advise clients accurately, and identify appraisal-related landmines before the IRS disallows a deduction.
Charitable Contributions Under the Microscope: Deductions, Documentation, and Conservation Easements
This course provides a practical, compliance-focused examination of charitable contribution deductions under IRC §170, with special emphasis on conservation easements and other high-risk contribution types. The course is presented by a former IRS Subject Matter Expert and a former IRS Office of Chief Counsel attorney, both of whom worked directly on the IRS Conservation Easement Campaign.
How the IRS Analyzes International Individuals: Residency, Sourcing, and Income Exclusions
Discusses IRS reporting requirements for US citizens and resident aliens abroad, and foreign persons (resident aliens and nonresident aliens), including how to determine alien tax status and nonresident alien income sourcing. Also discusses the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) filing requirements.