Niche, short courses
With IRS scrutiny of digital assets increasing, it’s critical to stay current on cryptocurrency taxation and reporting.
In this focused two-hour session, we’ll review the federal income tax treatment of common crypto transactions, including sales, exchanges, mining, staking, hard forks and airdrops. We’ll also cover key reporting requirements — the Form 1040 digital asset question, Form 8949 reporting and new broker reporting developments such as Form 1099-DA.
You’ll gain a clear understanding of audit risk areas, documentation expectations and your responsibilities as a practitioner in this evolving regulatory environment — so you can advise clients with confidence.
Sales and use tax remains one of the most misunderstood areas of state and local taxation — and one of the easiest places for costly mistakes.
In this focused session, we'll review key 2026 updates and walk through practical, real-world examples. You’ll gain clarity on common trouble spots and learn how to identify risks before they become expensive surprises.
Whether you advise startups or established businesses, this course will strengthen your foundation in sales tax compliance and help you stay ahead of changing rules.
Certain returns come with heightened reporting requirements — and increased penalty exposure.
In this intermediate-level session, we’ll review key compliance components of Form 990, including governance disclosures and unrelated business income issues. We’ll also cover commonly encountered international information returns such as Forms 5471, 8865 and 8938.
With a focus on reporting mechanics, disclosure requirements and common filing errors, this course will help you identify risk areas, strengthen documentation and navigate forms that often draw IRS scrutiny.
The qualified business income deduction becomes more complicated when partnerships, S corporations and tiered ownership structures are involved.
In this session, we’ll address advanced §199A issues, including aggregation elections, SSTB limitations and the W-2 wage and qualified property tests. We’ll also discuss common complications that arise in multi-entity structures.
With a focus on practical application and proper documentation, this course will help you navigate complex QBID situations with greater clarity and confidence.
The §1202 exclusion can deliver significant tax savings — but only if the rules are followed carefully from day one through the sale.
In this session, we’ll walk through the key requirements for qualified small business stock (QSBS), including entity eligibility, active business tests, holding period rules, and the impact of redemptions. We’ll also discuss multi-year sale strategies and common mistakes that can jeopardize the exclusion.
Through practical examples, you’ll gain a clearer understanding of how to protect QSBS eligibility and preserve the benefits for your clients.
Stock and asset deals can have very different tax consequences — and knowing the rules can make a big difference for your outcomes.
In this session, we’ll compare the tax effects of stock versus asset transactions from both buyer and seller perspectives. You’ll explore basis step-ups, depreciation, allocation rules and §338/§336(e) elections, while seeing how these choices play out in real deals.
Through practical case studies, you’ll gain a clearer understanding of negotiation points and after-tax outcomes, helping you make smarter decisions and protect value in every transaction.
Tax laws continue to evolve, creating both challenges and opportunities for individuals and business owners seeking to minimize tax liabilities while achieving their financial objectives. In this practical course, you'll examine a variety of tax planning strategies designed to benefit middle-income taxpayers and closely held business owners. Participants will explore techniques available under current tax law to manage taxable income, maximize deductions and credits, optimize retirement and investment planning, and improve overall tax efficiency.
Sales of partnership interests can create unexpected ordinary income when “hot assets” are involved — and missing the rules can be costly.
In this session, we’ll dive into IRC §751 and show you how it applies to partnership interest sales and certain distributions. You’ll learn how to identify hot assets, calculate the ordinary income portion of a sale, and handle unrealized receivables and inventory items correctly. We’ll also cover common pitfalls, planning strategies and documentation tips to protect your clients.
Through real examples and case discussions, you’ll gain a clearer understanding of how §751 affects transactions and how to report partnership interest sales accurately — helping you avoid surprises and maximize outcomes.
Foreign trust filings and accounting method changes come with detailed procedural rules — and significant penalty exposure if handled incorrectly.
In this intermediate-level session, we’ll review the reporting requirements for Forms 3520 and 3520-A, including ownership and distribution triggers. We’ll also cover accounting method change procedures, including Form 3115 filing requirements, automatic versus nonautomatic changes, and §481(a) adjustments.
With a focus on reporting mechanics, compliance steps and common filing errors, this course will help you navigate these complex areas with greater confidence and accuracy.
Rental real estate continues to offer significant tax planning opportunities, but navigating the complex rules governing rental activities requires a thorough understanding of income reporting, deductions, depreciation, passive activity limitations and property dispositions. In this practical course, you'll examine the key tax concepts and strategies associated with owning, operating and disposing of rental properties.
Knowing whether to capitalize or expense a cost can have a big impact on your clients’ taxes — and the rules aren’t always clear.
In this session, we’ll walk through the repair and capitalization regulations, showing how to distinguish between deductible repairs and capital expenditures. You’ll learn practical strategies for applying the rules correctly, avoiding common mistakes and understanding the tax implications of your decisions.
Through real-world examples, you’ll gain a clearer understanding of how to handle repairs and improvements, helping you make confident, compliant choices for your clients.
Depreciation is a fundamental tax and accounting concept that affects the reporting, planning and financial outcomes of nearly every business. This course provides a practical introduction to depreciation rules and methodologies commonly encountered by tax and finance professionals. Participants will develop a foundational understanding of how capital assets are recovered for tax purposes and how depreciation impacts taxable income, financial reporting and business decision-making.
Multiple loss limitation rules can apply to the same activity — and applying them in the wrong order can lead to costly mistakes.
In this session, we’ll walk through the proper sequencing and coordination of basis, at-risk, passive activity and excess business loss rules. You’ll see how these regimes interact and how to apply them correctly for compliance purposes.
With a focus on accuracy and practical planning, this course will help you maximize allowable losses while avoiding common errors.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing the way tax professionals work, creating new opportunities to increase efficiency, enhance the quality of client service, and expand advisory capabilities. This course explores the practical application of AI technologies within the tax function, including workflow automation, tax research, data analysis, document review, client communications and compliance processes.
Through real-world examples and practical use cases, participants will gain a framework for evaluating, implementing and governing AI solutions while positioning themselves and their organizations for the future of tax and finance.
Some federal tax forms come with added complexity — and greater risk of error.
In this intermediate-level session, we’ll review selected business and individual tax forms that present technical challenges, detailed documentation requirements, or significant penalty exposure. We’ll focus on reporting mechanics, computational trouble spots and common compliance mistakes.
Through practical examples and discussion of IRS scrutiny areas, you’ll gain strategies to improve accuracy and consistency in preparing and reviewing returns.
U.S. individuals with foreign financial accounts face strict reporting rules — and significant penalties for getting them wrong.
In this focused two-hour session, we’ll review key international reporting requirements, including FBAR (FinCEN Form 114), FATCA reporting (Form 8938), and related information returns. We’ll cover filing thresholds, definitions of foreign financial accounts and specified foreign financial assets, and common trouble spots such as foreign trusts, gifts and foreign entity ownership.
With practical examples and an emphasis on enforcement trends and penalty exposure, this course will help you identify risks early and guide clients toward proper compliance.
A partner's tax basis is one of the most important and frequently misunderstood concepts in partnership taxation. Accurate basis calculations are essential for determining the tax treatment of contributions, distributions, loss deductions, debt allocations and the disposition of a partnership interest. This course provides a practical introduction to the rules governing a partner's outside basis and the impact of partnership activities on basis adjustments throughout the life cycle of a partnership investment.
Participants will learn how to calculate initial and adjusted basis in a partnership interest, including the effects of capital contributions, allocated income and losses, partnership liabilities and cash and property distributions. The course also explores the relationship between partner basis and partnership-level activities, helping attendees understand the limitations on loss deductions and the reporting requirements associated with partnership ownership.
S corporation returns come with recurring technical challenges — and small mistakes can create big problems. From basis limitations and shareholder distributions to reasonable compensation and built-in gains tax, small missteps can result in significant tax adjustments, penalties and IRS scrutiny.
In this focused two-hour session, we’ll examine the 10 most common S corporation issues seen in practice. Topics include shareholder basis calculations, loss limitations, distributions, reasonable compensation, built-in gains tax, eligibility rules, and common reporting errors flagged in IRS exams.
Using practical examples and real-world scenarios, this course will help you improve accuracy, strengthen documentation and reduce audit risk in your S corporation engagements.
IRS penalties can be costly — but in many cases, they can be reduced or removed with the right approach.
In this session, we’ll focus on practical strategies for obtaining penalty abatement based on reasonable cause. We’ll review the statutory standards, IRS administrative guidance and the key factors that lead to successful outcomes.
You’ll also learn how to properly document your case, craft an effective narrative and distinguish reasonable cause arguments from first-time abatement relief — so you can advocate more effectively for your clients.
IRS notices are common — but responding correctly and promptly is critical.
In this session, we’ll review the most frequent and consequential IRS notices practitioners encounter. You’ll learn how to quickly identify the type of notice, assess its urgency and determine the appropriate response to limit client exposure.
We’ll also cover key procedural rights, important deadlines and practical correspondence strategies to help you handle notices efficiently and with confidence.
Looking to sharpen your tax skills fast? Don Farmer Tax Education is introducing 1–4 CPE credit virtual seminars that pack practical, engaging content into a short format designed for busy professionals.