If you have an interest in a foreign bank account you may be subject to reporting requirements.  There are two pieces of legislation that relate to these accounts.  The Bank Secrecy Act requires that certain financial accounts based in foreign countries be reported to the Department of Treasury.  This act has been in place for [...]

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As one approaches retirement age, one decision that must be made is when to begin drawing Social Security benefits.  For those born 1943-1954 full retirement age is 66. It increases two months for each succeeding year until it reaches age 67 for those born 1960 or later. The later you wait, the larger your benefits [...]

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For many years, American taxpayers have cleaned out their closets, put stuff in a bag, and delivered it to the Red Cross, Goodwill or other exempt organization. Being diligent citizens, they got a receipt from the organization that stated “2 bags of clothes.” Then at tax time, we filled in line 17 (Non-cash charitable contributions) [...]

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A very beneficial tax break is available to certain small businesses and tax-exempt organizations.  The health care reform act signed into law in 2010 contains a provision for a Small Business Health Care Tax Credit.  This credit gives small businesses and not-for profit organizations a credit for the costs of health care coverage paid by [...]

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There have been two developments in the taxation of cell phones in recent months.  These are important issues that have the potential to affect millions of employees and employers.  The first of these addressed the taxability of employer –provided cell phones.  The second addresses the issue of how the IRS will treat iPads and similar [...]

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As we approach the end of 2011, it would be appropriate to review your tax situation before year-end and make any necessary adjustments.  Although it is possible that Congress will enact some last-minute tax changes, you should plan as if there will be no further changes in the tax law before year-end. We will look [...]

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If I had $1 for every time someone has asked me “How do I report someone who is cheating on their taxes?” I would probably be a rich man.  The IRS does have an established procedure for reporting tax evaders and there can be handsome rewards for turning in a tax cheat.  That’s the good [...]

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The IRS has announced an opportunity for employers to reclassify employees that have been incorrectly reported to the IRS as independent contractors.  There is a 20-point test that the IRS uses to classify workers as employees or independent contractors.  These criteria can be viewed on IRS Form SS-8.  This form can be utilized as a [...]

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A recent article on this blog discussed the concept of an innocent spouse under IRS rules. An innocent spouse is one who stands has filed a joint return and is exposed to liability for additional taxes due to fraudulent activity on the part of the other spouse.  An innocent spouse is frequently confused with the [...]

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There is seemingly no end to calls for tax reform in the United States.  This is not without cause, as the current income tax system could be considered as broken.  The Internal Revenue Code is over 71,000 pages long, or over 24 megabytes.  There are over 800 IRS forms.  The tax industry is one roughly [...]

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