Tax laws, regulations, and codes to tax planning

by | Jun 22, 2023 | Accounting

Apply tax laws, regulations, and codes to tax planning
Present tax positions and relevant research to stakeholders
Scenario
As a new junior accountant, your firm requests that you spend time interacting with clients on a one-on-one basis, including discussing results of prepared tax returns. This allows clients the opportunity to ask questions and to better understand their tax situation. You have been provided with several client files to review and will select one set of prepared tax returns to analyze from Client Tax Profile B found in the Supporting Materials section below. You will also be given tax planning scenarios within each client’s profile to compare. You began this work when you completed Module Six Case Study.

To gain practical experience in completing this task, you will present your analysis of each return and applicable tax planning scenario to a senior manager within the firm. In your presentation, you will explain the types of federal law sources used to prepare the return and the tax position(s) taken. In addition, you will address any tax planning considerations for the client, including identifying research necessary to make favorable suggestions and addressing the potential for tax avoidance or tax evasion based on the clients’ request to modify their current tax situation.

Instead of an in-person presentation, you will record a presentation using Bongo. You will prepare PowerPoint slides with images and content to present research completed for this project, the makeup of the client’s current tax position, and tax planning suggestions to assist the client in the future, as well as verbally showcase those slides in your Bongo presentation. You will include detailed speaker notes highlighting the important points you want to emphasize regarding the client’s current tax position and suggested tax planning.

Directions
Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

Explain the federal tax law sources used in each of the prepared tax returns. Include the following:
IRC code
Tax tables
1-2 slides
Speaker notes
Explain the filing requirements for the tax position taken in each of the prepared tax returns. Include the following:
Filing status
Qualifying dependents/relatives claimed, if applicable
1-2 slides
Speaker notes
Explain taxable and non-taxable income. Consider the following:
Taxable sources of income
Profiles with non-taxable income
Non-taxable income qualifications
Reporting of non-taxable income
1-2 slides
Speaker notes
Justify deductions taken in each of the prepared tax returns. Consider the following:
Standard versus itemized deductions
Deductions taken on prepared returns
1-2 slides
Speaker notes
Evaluate tax credits applied in each of the prepared tax returns. Consider the following:
Applicable credits taken
1-2 slides
Speaker notes
Describe client profiles to assist with tax planning preparations. Include the following:
High-level points from the profile(s) to determine clients’ goals
Relevant factors that could impact the tax planning process
1 slide
Speaker notes
Identify research necessary to find applicable tax planning solutions for the clients in each scenario. Include the following:
Methods for assessing the client’s tax situation for future tax planning
Sources applicable to tax year in question to answer tax questions for the client’s scenario
Income limitations (i.e., earned income, income thresholds)
Decisions for any dependents
1 slide
Speaker notes
Describe the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion in addressing the client profiles. Include the following:
How tax planning can help reduce tax liability in a legal way
What would be considered tax evasion
1 slide
Speaker notes
Evaluate benefits of tax planning for the clients. Include the following:
How to minimize tax liability to improve clients’ future tax situation
1 slide
Speaker notes
Create tax planning recommendations based on client profiles. Include the following:
Steps that will improve tax position based on each client’s goals (i.e., applicable tax planning solutions)
Suggestions of how clients can do their taxes differently over the coming year to achieve their goals (i.e., changes that could be made to implement a tax planning strategy not currently applicable)
Examples of how clients can improve tax position for the upcoming year

 

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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