The Treasury Department and Health and Human Services announced last week that in the coming weeks it will introduce “consumer-friendly” resources for taxpayers to use to comply with the new healthcare rules. Starting this year, taxpayers are facing additional paperwork for this year’s filing, causing concern for taxpayers and their accountants. Tax filers will now have to report whether they had healthcare ...

Despite all the talk about new changes underway now that Republicans will assume control of Congress and governorships in 31 states, much of the current tax issues will look the same in 2015 as they did in 2014, according to Forbes. Below is a snapshot of the top nine tax stories to watch in 2015: Business Taxes.  Will 2015 be the year of business tax reform? Probably not, according to Forbes, as the Afford ...

Thanks to the U.S. Senate, IRA owners age 701/2 and older have until Wednesday, December 31, 2014, to make a direct transfer from their account to an eligible charity of their choice of up to $100,000 without paying taxes on the distribution. The senate approved the direct rollover in addition to more than 50 other tax provisions as part of the extender’s package on December 16, 2014—just two weeks shy of t ...

  The NFL is the nation’s largest sports franchise, generating nearly $10 billion per year. What most people don’t know is that it’s also a nonprofit organization. Even at that level of income, the NFL is a 501(c)(6) “business league” organization where the vast majority of its earnings trickle down to its 32 teams, which includes the Washington Redskins. Recently, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington DC’ ...

  The IRS has released the annual inflation adjustments for a number of provisions for tax year 2015, including tax rate schedules, tax tables, and cost of living adjustments for some items. In total, the IRS posted more than 40 updates. You can read them in full here. You can also find an excellent overview of all the changes at Forbes.com through the link below. ...

  With just six more weeks to go until 2015 is rung in, small business owners and managers can take simple steps now to minimize their tax bill next April, according to business advisory services firm Skoda Minotti. Below are five ideas small business owners and managers can consider from now until December 31: Make those needed office or plant repairs. For the most part, expenses for minor business pr ...

  In the last several years, at least within Internet circles, everyone has been talking about the cloud. Ask ten different people and you’ll get ten different answers, but the truth is, no one really knows what or where the cloud is. That’s okay. Lack of concrete definitions and clarity never stopped government from taxing something or in this case nothing. As best can be explained, the cloud is an In ...

  Two CPAs in Washington D.C. have filed a class action lawsuit against the IRS for requiring a yearly registration and related fee in order to maintain a preparer tax identification number (PTIN). The suit, which involves 700,000 practitioners, seeks to recover $150 million in fees that the IRS has collected since the regulation passed in 2010. Four years ago, the IRS put the new rule into effect as a ...

  The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) recently sent a letter to the IRS calling a proposed “voluntary” certification program for unenrolled tax return preparers “unlawful and improper”. In a recent ruling, Loving, No. 13-5061 (D.C. Cir. 2/11/14), it was held that the IRS does not have the statutory authority to regulate tax return preparers. In the aftermath, IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen, stated ...

  In a windfall for the IRS, 77,000 foreign banks have turned over data on American account holders as part of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The U.S. devised tax law with global reach requires all foreign banks to submit full data on all American accounts with a balance of $50,000 or more. Financial institutions that are non-compliant risk being frozen out of U.S. markets and a 30 per ...

Believe it or not, Hawaii’s top marginal tax rate is 367,100 percent. That makes France’s 75 percent and 100 percent tax rates seem like a downright bargain. A new paper released by the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Texas Tech University and The Institute for Business and Finance Research details how state tax laws in Hawaii create a tax cliff of epic proportions where a single extra dollar in income can tr ...

(…and possibly their valuation consultant?) Rev. Proc. 2014-18 provides a simplified method for certain taxpayers to obtain an extension to elect portability under Code Sec. 2010(c)(5)(A). This method allows a widow or widower to apply a deceased spouses unused exclusion (DSUE) amount to the surviving spouse's subsequent transfers during life or at death. In these situations, the ability to file and use the ...

Where the IRS stands on the classification of Bitcoin and the purchases made with it has been ambiguous. There are a lot of questions surrounding the virtual currency, not the least of which is how it factors in tax matters. While Bitcoin operates like real currency in some situations, the fact still stands that it has no legal recognition as currency in any jurisdiction. In spite of this contradiction, the ...

You could call it UBS, Part II.  Back in 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) uncovered 4,700 names of American citizens avoiding taxes with the help of Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS.  Most notably, Beanie Babies creator and billionaire, Ty Warner, was caught in the sting that cost UBS $780 million in fines and netted the IRS $6 billion in taxes and fines from a voluntary disclosure program for petr ...

The days of applying Mandelbaum and referencing a few IPO and restricted stock studies are over. This article addresses what is often omitted from most asset holding entity valuation reports. By failing to include issues like the ones outlined, the resulting adjustments are less empirical and more a "guesstimate". Valuation practitioners and their advisory clients have a duty to the users of our reports to ...

While CPAs and tax attorneys must currently meet professional standards for tax preparation and other services, a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled that the IRS has no authority to force continuing education or similar standards on tax preparers.  The case stems from a 2011 IRS proposal of a system that would have established tax preparer registration and re ...

According to Tax Court decisions Part 2 of this article examines the remaining eight most common mistakes made in valuation, based on U.S. Tax Court decisions. Court rulings may be right or wrong, but without taking sides, this article confirms the truism that experience is the best teacher. . ...

Income from intellectual property continues to be an increasing contributor to economic growth.  Too often, however, the creator and financial advisor find themselves in a gray area when it comes to the changing tax laws surrounding patents and copyrights.  Proper planning and a clear understanding of the most recent developments are essential when it comes to affecting the creator’s tax liability.  In a th ...

  More often than not, a company’s income statement isn’t a definitive disclosure of its revenue and expenses that investors can interpret clearly, easily and accurately.  This is largely because income and expenses, as classified under GAAP, can be difficult to define.  According to McKinsey & Company, savvy investors often have to reengineer statements to come up with figures that they’re even re ...

Fine art collectors and estate taxes Tax and estate planning is complex and constantly evolving. Choosing the appropriate strategy depends on the specific circumstances involved. It is critical for tax professionals, estate planning attorneys, and valuation analysts to understand the client’s precise needs and work collaboratively to achieve their stated goals. ...