Things started off simply enough. A fresh pot of coffee was brewing outside the Saline Area Senior Center library. Fresh pastries has been set out on two plates along one of the side walls within. [1]
At the head of the room, a widescreen television was connected to a laptop computer running PowerPoint. The opening slide promised content to come on the “Tax Cuts and Job Act” now eight months in effect — with another eight to go before most IRS Form 1040 filings will be made for the 2018 tax year. An impressively sized packing box filled with commercially printed handouts was there, too. [2]
Getting things started, Gabriel Sandler introduced himself as an Enrolled Agent. He also cited his employment credentials with Capstone. But this wasn’t going to be a pitch meeting. One does not pitch this group. It’s well established that area seniors have high expectations. This is the place where Saline Rotary Club goes to vet its Enactment Tour performances before presenting final content to the public. [3,4,5,6,7,8]
Saline Senior Center Program Coordinator Andrea Lewis had reached out to Capstone to request an update on tax matters. Following Mr Sandler’s advice, Saline Journal brings attention to this subject and the importance of planning for it throughout the year. Ms Lewis noted this as well last week just prior to the talk. [9,10]
PowerPoint slides that followed then may not be surprising here. The number of tax brackets. Changes to Schedule A. But the Internal Revenue Service operates much like the broader legal system in the United States: Many aspects of the code will not become clear until challenged in court, ruled upon, and interpretation subsequently thus set as by those precedent cases. [11]
Feel free to interrupt if you have questions or input as we go along.
It’s possible that Gabriel Sandler had gone as much as five minutes, perhaps three slides into his formal content before he was stopped to acknowledge the first (respectful) interruption from one of the dozen-plus attendees. A man proffered guidance he had received on the best way to make charital donations to his church in light of IRS changes. This was to build on advice that he’d already received from Dennis Michalak, Mr Sandler’s boss.
Saline Area Senior Center constituents aren’t just well informed and converstational in a wide breadth of details, they’re well connected — and there’s an accountability in that that has a rippling effect benefit. This is not a casual Wednesday afternoon chat over coffee. It’s serious business, before smart people who invest, and spend, and budget fixed resources as if their lives depend upon it.
Within the confines of what happened on August 8, that’s the story. April 15, 2019 will bear little resemblance to the experience of this year, and the best way to deal with that is to adopt a mindset of keeping an ongoing eye on it, real time. Direction is coming along at a snail’s pace, with only a handful of more or less ambuguity-settling decisions today available from the Tax Court.
Impressively, Capstone chose to approach this invitation from a pro-active influencer such as Andrea Lewis much as the Kris Kringle character did in Miracle on 34th Street: Expertly lay out all the options and reasoning, then let the listener decide how to go forward with next steps, if at all, and where. [12]
Bigger picture, it shows Saline Area Senior Center in one of its more important contexts for this community. Structure, people, and activities are an older version of our philosophy toward local schools, global manufacturing, and retail. With the added benefit of having raised those bars through the many tests of time.
Prepare accordingly.
References
- Saline Area Senior Center (home page).
- “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” US House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means.
- “What is an Enrolled Agent?” National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA).
- Capstone Tax & Financial (home page).
- “Seventh Annual Saline Mayor’s Senior Conference Brought Together Most Valuable Community Resources” Dell Deaton (June 22, 2018) Saline Journal.
- Rotary Club of Saline (home page).
- “Third Annual Cemetery Enactment Tour” Saline Rotary.
- “You Should Get to Know former Saline Resident Webster Ruckman at Some Point in Your Memorial Day Schedule” Dell Deaton (May 28, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “You Need to Start Thinking about Your 2018 Taxes Now. Seriously.” Dell Deaton (January 5, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “There Are Concerns That Tax Reform May Change The Way Families Approach ‘Spring Cleaning’ And Giving” Dell Deaton (July 9, 2018) Saline Journal.
- “Tax Court Cases” Internal Revenue System (IRS).
- “Miracle on 34th Street (1947)” IMDb.
