Common situations that cause trouble for income tax professionals involve capital gain calculations. The difficulty rests with obtaining complete information from the taxpayers. Selling any investment or business property mandates determination of the capital gain or loss. In fact, selling any personal asset for a gain is taxable.
Since a capital gain is the difference between sales price and basis, IRS jobs of assessing the capital gain tax require details to determine basis. Unfortunately, taxpayer confusion about basis causes considerable complications. This is especially true for assets acquired in ways other than purchase. In order to unwind the historical elements that reveal basis, the expertise of an IRS enrolled agent is particularly beneficial. Read more