Taxing, Briefly
everyday tax | explained

It’s fair to say that here at Briefly Taxing, we live and breathe tax law. There are other folks out there (so we’ve been told) that have other, less esoteric and acronym-driven interests. It is for the rest of you (which is to say, the majority of the civilized world) that we has created a series of articles called Taxing, Briefly. These posts adopt a much broader, less technical approach to current tax issues.

It goes without saying (but I’m a lawyer, and I can’t help saying it), but these articles are no substitutes for legal advice. If you have a question about what you read, reach out to us, or bug your number-crunching Cousin Leroy, the family’s token CPA.
These articles are only as good as the questions we’re asked by you non-taxish people, who (apparently) far outnumber your tax nerd kith and kin. So, if you have a question, drop us a line by clicking the button below.
Our most recent Taxing, Briefly Articles

Statutes of Limitation on Assessment and Collection
One of the most common questions I am asked by taxpayers is “How long can the IRS try to collect my liability?” It’s a good question, and one that would seem to have a quick, easy answer. Judging purely by the length of this article, however, the answer is never

Can the Government Take My Tax Refund?
A maxim for today: The Government giveth, but more often it taketh away. Within the last two weeks, I have been approached and asked by multiple folks, “Can the government take my tax refund?” In this Taxing, Briefly article, we’ll discuss offsetting tax refunds to pay other state and Federal obligations.

Donation-Based Crowdfunding
Background to Donation-Based Crowdfunding You’ve seen it on Facebook countless times. A tragedy occurs to a friend of a friend, and your (first level) friend sets up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the poor unfortunate souls. An old friend approached me not too long ago. Her brother needed

Moving Beyond the Basics of Charitable Contributions
In our previous post, we took a high level look at charitable contributions and deductions, including looking at what made an organization “qualified” to receive charitable contributions, when deductions might be limited, and special rules for valuing and reporting non-cash charitable contributions. In this post, “Beyond the Basics of Charitable

Basic Concepts for Charitable Deductions
Your grandmother Phyllis was a remarkable woman. Aside from making it out on the other side of Uncle Bill’s childhood with only moderate shell shock (which, I suppose, is referred to these days as PTSD), Phyllis was an intelligence agent in the United States Army towards the end of World

Taxing, Briefly – Can the IRS Take My Passport?
When my son was two, his grandmother gave him a stuffed owl. Not a particularly creative toddler, he named the little owl Stuffy, and the name has stuck to this day. What does this have to do with the question “Can the IRS Take My Passport?” Patience…all will be revealed. He