Brian Wynne, CPA
The Maryland General Assembly has released more details about the Maryland Tax Amnesty Program. This program waives all civil penalties and one half of the interest for delinquent taxpayers who apply and are approved. We shared some information about the Tax Amnesty Program in April. To read more about the program and how it may affect you, visit taxes.maryland.com.
Brian Wynne, CPA
The IRS announced on Tuesday that identity thieves were able to access tax transcript information of more than 100,000 tax accounts through their “Get Transcript” application. Prior knowledge of personal information allowed the criminals to pass a multi-step authentication process to access the tax transcripts. The IRS believes approximately 200,000 attempts to access transcript information were made in total from “questionable e-mail domains” starting in February and ending in mid-May, with more than 100,000 gaining access.
The IRS […]
Brian Wynne, CPA
On Monday, May 18th, the Supreme Court ruled that Maryland’s income tax law for income earned outside of the state is unconstitutional. The court voted 5-4 to affirm a 2013 Maryland Court of Appeals decision. The case specifically addressed Maryland’s denial of credits against the MD county income tax, otherwise known as the ‘piggy-back’ local tax. Going forward, residents who earn out-of-state income from certain businesses/sources will be able to claim a credit against the county taxes […]
Scott Reddersen, CPA
Much has been written about the benefits of Roth versus Traditional IRAs, and over the past several
years a popular “backdoor Roth” conversion has made headlines as well. As a refresher, this method allows high-income taxpayers, who are excluded from making direct contributions to Roth IRAs, the ability to make non-deductible contributions to a Traditional IRA, and then immediately convert that amount to a Roth. The net effect, ideally, is minimal tax on any earnings between the date […]
Jobe Dupre’, CPA
For Maryland individuals and corporations past due on filing Maryland tax returns and paying Maryland taxes, the Maryland legislature has passed a tax amnesty bill which is awaiting the governor’s signature. The amnesty will apply to corporate and individual income taxes, withholding tax, sales and use tax or admissions and amusement tax and will waive all penalties and one half of the interest due. Although the bill takes effect June 1, 2015, the amnesty period will be […]
Jobe Dupre’, CPA
Each month, the IRS provides various prescribed rates for federal income tax purposes. These rates, known as Applicable Federal Rates (AFRs), are regularly published as revenue rulings.
The AFRs for April 2015 are as follows:
Annual
Semi-Annual
Quarterly
Monthly
Short-Term: 1-3 years
0.48%
0.48%
0.48%
0.48%
Mid-Term: >3 & up to 9 years
1.70%
1.69%
1.69%
1.68%
Long-Term: >9 years
2.47%
2.45%
2.44%
2.44%
Posting by John Merchant
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released its annual “dirty dozen” for 2015. The annual dirty dozen are the top twelve tax related scams that IRS has found are being perpetrated on unsuspecting victims each year. Once again, Unscrupulous Tax Preparers are on the list. The IRS reports that approximately 60% of all taxpayers use a paid preparer. While IRS acknowledges that most preparers provide very good service, every year there are some that run scams […]
Posting by Billy Thomas
The Federal gift tax return (Form 709) is a function of the overall Federal transfer tax system. Excluding any discussion on the Generation-Skipping Transfer tax for now, the rules just to report gifts on a gift tax return are very complex. All gifts are not reportable on a Federal gift tax return, however it is important to understand what the IRS considers a gift:
A gift is the transfer of a beneficial interest in certain property in […]
Each month, the IRS provides various prescribed rates for federal income tax purposes. These rates, known as Applicable Federal Rates (AFRs), are regularly published as revenue rulings.
The AFRs for March 2015 are as follows:
Annual
Semi-Annual
Quarterly
Monthly
Short-Term: 1-3 years
0.40%
0.40%
0.40%
0.40%
Mid-Term: >3 & up to 9 years
1.47%
1.46%
1.46%
1.46%
Long-Term: >9 years
2.19%
2.18%
2.17%
2.17%
Posting by John Merchant
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently released its annual “dirty dozen” tax related scams that they find are being perpetrated on unsuspecting victims. This year phone scams were at the top of the list. According to the IRS, scam artists will call on the telephone pretending to be IRS collection agents and demanding payment on an outstanding tax bill that is totally phony. They may demand that the taxpayer give them a credit card number to […]
