Billy Thomas, CPA
Do you have a personal disaster recovery plan? We like to think disasters can never happen here, but as we have seen by many recent tragedies across the globe, disaster can strike anywhere and when we least expect it.
The IRS recently released a very helpful and timely guide to safeguarding tax records in concurrence with the start of Hurricane Season on June 1st. Nonetheless, here are some additional steps recommended by the IRS for you to safely […]
Billy Thomas, CPA
Recently being in the market to upgrade my car to a more fuel economic vehicle, I went to the neighborhood dealership. Financing the vehicle is probably the only way I could afford the purchase until I saw the terms of the loan, which were approximately $32,000 at almost 4.5% interest over the next five years. Perhaps the economy has not turned for me as quickly as it has for others, but I left the offer on the […]
Glenn Bailey, CPA
The IRS has issued Revenue Procedure 2011-34, which allows most real estate professionals to make a late election to treat all interests in rental real estate as a single rental activity for the purpose of applying the passive activity loss rules. Prior to this an election had to be filed with the original tax return, or a Private Letter Ruling could be requested, which was a costly and burdensome process.
The real estate professional exception allows a person […]
Glenn Bailey, CPA
Foreign bank account reporting forms, “FBAR” for short, are due June 30th. Unlike your typical tax return, these must be delivered to the U.S. Treasury office by the due date, rather than just postmarked. Enforcement of the rules related to foreign account disclosure has increased dramatically in the last couple years. News articles abound with stories of civil and criminal prosecutions and penalties for failing to report the income and/or existence of covered foreign accounts. Standard […]
Kelly Lopez, CPA
IRS just announced that interest rates for the calendar quarter beginning July 1st, will be the same as in the previous quarter. For more information, including rates, please follow the IRS link below:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=239473,00.html
Since 1976 there has been a 0.2% FUTA surtax. Currently, the gross federal unemployment tax rate that employers pay on the first $7,000 of wages paid to each employee is 6.2%, which is made up of the 6% permanent tax and 0.2% temporary surtax.
The 0.2% temporary surtax is currently set to expire on June 30, 2011. We do not know if Congress will take action to extend the surtax beyond June 30, 2011. It is possible that sometime after the […]
The Congress was very generous when it granted 100% bonus depreciation for qualifying property placed in service after September 8, 2010 and before January 1, 2012. However, if you did not want to take the 100% bonus depreciation, your only other option (according to the IRS) was to elect out of bonus depreciation and take the regular depreciation on the asset. This was reinforced in the Form 4562 (Depreciation and Amortization) instructions when they cautioned taxpayers that “if you elect out […]
In the near future the IRS will likely be performing more examinations of individual income tax returns reporting rental real estate activity. On March 9, 2011, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) published the results of an internal audit to identify ways to improve enforcement activity in the area of rental real estate income. The audit was undertaken in response to an August 2008 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that found, “at least 53 percent of individual […]
Jobe Dupre’, CPA
Most of the time, rent paid for the use of business property is deductible. In fact, the tax code doesn’t even specifically state that rent paid must be “reasonable,” (a tax term applied to most deductions). However, transactions between “related parties” come under closer scrutiny by the IRS because of the potential for abuse. If rent paid to a related party is found to be “unreasonable,” the deduction will be reduced. In many such cases, the rent found to be excessive […]
Jobe Dupre’, CPA
Generally, club dues are not tax deductible as a business expense.
This general non-deductible rule covers dues paid to country clubs, golf clubs, business luncheon clubs, athletic clubs, and even airline and hotel clubs. However, you can still deduct 50% of the cost of otherwise allowable business entertainment, even though the dues you pay are nondeductible. For example, if you have business dinner with a customer at your country club, 50% of the cost of the dinner is […]
