|
Important Issues
|
|
|
|
Past Newsworthy
Notes
|
|
Only 7% of low-income adults who
entered college in 1995-1996 earned a bachelor's
degree within six years, compared with 42% of
traditional-age students. The report,
issued by the American Council on Education
(March 1), also noted that 58% of US workers age
25-64 do not have a college degree.
Voting with a thunderous
"yes", residents of Killington,
Vermont have endorsed a plan for the ski-resort
town to secede from Vermont and become part of
New Hampshire, 25 miles to the east. The
vote (March 2) could be largely symbolic since
state lawmakers in New Hampshire and Vermont
will have the final say.
The main source of discontent is Vermont's new
system of financing education. The
changes, adopted in 1997 on directions from the
state's Supreme Court, dramatically increased
property taxes in wealthy communities such as
Killington.
Federal prosecutors have added
three counts of making false statements on a tax
return to the indictment against former Maryland
State Police Superintendent Edward Norris.
A grand jury in December indicted Norris on
charges that, as Baltimore Police Commissioner,
he misspent thousands of dollars in city police
funds on personal luxuries and extra-marital
trysts. The new charges appear to come as
a response to the defense claim that his client
had a right to the money. The new counts
relate to tax returns for the years 2000, 2001
and 2002.
|
|
|
Notable Quotes
|
|
"The IRS is unprepared to
administer a law that is basically a social
welfare program ... we do not have case workers
as revenue agents or tax examiners - that's not
what they are trained to do."
Nina E. Olsen, National Taxpayer Advocate
[Commenting on problems with EITC compliance.]
"I've got six years invested in this ...
I wanted to get this done before I'm on
Medicare."
Senator John Breaux (D., La.)
[Commenting on the Medicare vote. Breaux
was one of only two Democrats allowed by
Republicans to join the Medicare reform
negotiations.]
|
|
|
|
|
Tax Court:
Tournament Poker Is Gambling, Not Sport
|
|
The
following article was provided by WebCPA ...
Washington
(Feb. 22, 2007) - Citing
a bit of wisdom from Kenny Rogers, the U.S. Tax
Court ruled that tournament poker is gambling,
not a sport, and thus not exempt from the
Section 165(d) limitations of the tax code.
Read all about it here ...
|
|
Web tips
|
|
Some
web tips to help you enhance your time on-line
from Smart Computing, November 2007.
|
|
Recent Tax Law Changes May Affect People Giving to Charity: IRS Offers Tips for Year
|
|
WASHINGTON — Individuals and businesses
making contributions to charity should keep
in mind several important tax law changes
made last summer by the Pension Protection
Act. More
details are available here ...
|
|
Secure Your
Retirement with a Rollover IRA
|
| Switching your job?
Retiring? Congratulations! A window of
opportunity opens for you with the
Rollover Individual Retirement Account
or Rollover IRA. In an era of corporate
restructuring and outsourcing, Rollover
IRA is among the most powerful means
available for securing one's retirement.
Yet, its potential to enlarge one's
assets for the golden years commonly
remains under-appreciated. Read
all about it here ... |
|
Past IRS Announcements
|
|
IRS
issues 2004 depreciation limits
for business autos ... The
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released the
inflation-adjusted depreciation
limits for business autos, light
trucks, and vans (including
minivans) placed in service in
2004, and the annual income
inclusion amounts for such
vehicles first leased in
2004. The maximum annual
depreciation deduction for each
type of vehicle is $100 less
than the limits that applied to
vehicles that were placed in
service last year.
Final
regulations issued allowing
electronic copies of returns ... The
IRS released final regulations
under Sections 6107 and 6695
allowing tax return preparers to
retain and provide copies of tax
returns to clients in an
electronic format. The
final regulations are effective
March 25, 2004.
Section 6695 of the Code imposes
various penalties on tax return
preparers, including a penalty
for failure to sign the returns
they prepare. Originally,
the regulations under Section
6695 considered only manually
signed (paper) returns.
Although the regulations under
Section 6695 were amended in
1996 to permit tax return
preparers to sign and file
returns electronically, Reg.
Section 1.6695-1(b) continued to
refer to manually signed returns
and copies. Those
references resulted in
uncertainty over whether
preparers must produce manually
signed, paper copies of returns
to satisfy their obligations
under Section 6107 to provide
copies of returns to taxpayers
and keep copies of returns in
their records. The final
regulations clarify that tax
return preparers will meet the
requirements of Sections 6107
and 6695 if they maintain
electronic copies of tax returns
and provide copies to their
clients in electronic format.
IRS
announces 2004 standard mileage
rate ... The
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released Rev.
Proc. 2003-76 announcing the optional standard
mileage rates to use for 2004 in computing the
deductible costs of operating an automobile for
business, charitable, medical, or moving expense
purposes.
|
|
2003 Legislation
|
|
President Signs Military Family Tax Relief Act
of 2003 ... On November 11, 2003, the President signed the
Military Family Tax Relief Act of 2003 [H.R.3365].
The new law contains several tax provisions
aimed at improving tax equity for members of the
Armed Forces and their families, as well as
other individuals engaged in the service of
their country.
President
Bush signed the Jobs and Growth
Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of
2003 [H.R. 2]on May 28,
2003.
|
|
|
