Anecdote of the Week

The Doctor is Not In

In one of our many doctor investigations (it seems that they get divorced more often than any other profession), while reviewing various records, including bank statements and cancelled checks, we noted that one bank account did not appear on the “official” books and records, trial balance/general ledger of the medical practice – and thus of course was never included in the Practice’s tax returns. If we could believe the story told us, it seems that a year or two prior, this additional bank account was set up, into which a significant amount of income was deposited. Allegedly, inadvertently and innocently, when it came time to entering this account into the system, oops, it was overlooked. Some of you who might say that’s not necessarily so bad because the money that went in was taken out and thus unreported income was offset by unreported expenses – no harm, no foul. Not quite – the only expenses from that bank account were disbursements to the doctors/owners

Tax Tip of the Week*

Sale of Marital Home

Many of our readers know that when you sell your home (principal residence) you are entitled to a $250,000 per person ($500,000 if married filing jointly) exclusion of gain from taxation. However, there are various rules, including that you needed to have lived in that house for at least two of the past five years. There is a special rule for divorced couples called the “Ousted Spouse Rule” that essentially allows that the two years out of five residency is met by a divorced person if his/her fellow divorced spouse meets that rule. This allows someone who has been out of the house for a number of years, and yet has retained his/her ownership interest in that house until it is sold (not an unusual situation), to benefit from the exclusion rule.