Home » Posts tagged 'Accounting'
Tag Archives: Accounting
Proposition 30 California Tax Increase –Tax Penalty Waiver.
The Franchise Tax Board has announced that taxpayers affected by the retroactive personal income tax increase (Proposition 30), may pay the amount due with their 2012 tax return. Taxpayers subject to underpayment of estimated tax penalties may request relief by completing Form 5808 Underpayment of Estimated Taxes by Individual and Fiduciaries and completing Part 1, question 1 with the explanation that the underpayment is due to Proposition 30.
Have You Been a Bad Bad Taxpayer? No Worries California is Willing to Give You a Break
Even if you have been a bad taxpayer, California is willing to give you a break.
Voluntary Compliance Initiative 2 (VCI 2) is an opportunity for taxpayers who underreported their California income tax liabilities, through the use of abusive tax avoidance transactions (ATAT) or offshore financial arrangements (OFA), to amend their returns for 2010 and prior tax years and obtain a waiver of most penalties.
Filing period: August 1, 2011 to October 31, 2011
Applicable tax years: 2010 and prior
Eligibility
You are eligible to participate in VCI 2 if you (or one of your related entities):
- Filed a tax return that underreported your income or tax liability through the use of an ATAT or OFA.
You are eligible even if you:
- Are currently under FTB examination for an ATAT or OFA.
- Are currently under administrative protest or appeal for an ATAT or OFA.
- Participated in the IRS’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative.
Participation
You must take the following steps to participate:
- File a completed Participation Agreement form with us between August 1, 2011 and October 31, 2011.
- Attach the form to your amended return to report all income from all sources, without regard to the ATAT and including all income from the OFA.
- Pay all tax and interest by October 31, 2011. See payment options for more information.
Benefits
Participation in VCI 2 will allow you to avoid:
- The cost of litigation.
- Certain penalties and the associated interest.
- Criminal prosecution.
Penalties
You can avoid the following penalties under VCI 2:
- Noneconomic Substance Transaction Understatement Penalty
- Accuracy Related Penalty
- Interest Based Penalty
- Fraud Penalty
If you are eligible but do not participate, you will be subject to the full range of penalties and interest, and may be subject to criminal prosecution.
The Large Corporate Understatement Penalty (LCUP) and the Amnesty Penalty cannot be waived under this initiative.
Preparer Competency Examination Update – It’s Time to Put In Your 2Cents
Katherman Kitts & Co. LLP Certified Public Accountants
If you want to tell the IRS exactly what you think the content of the competency exam should be, now is the time. Notice 2011-48 invites comments.
Notice 2011-48 invites public comments on the content and administration of the registered tax return preparer competency examination (competency examination). The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have published final regulations (TD 9527, 76 FR 32286) under 31 CFR Part 10 that require certain individuals to pass a competency examination to become a registered tax return preparer. The IRS has selected a vendor to support the IRS in developing and administering the competency examination for the Form 1040 series tax returns and accompanying schedules.
Notice 2011-48 will be published in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2011-26 on June 27, 2011.
Ten Tax Tips For Farmers at Tax Time
Image via Wikipedia
Farmers, does your tax preparer know these 10 important tax tips? No? Yes? They should….
If you are in the business of farming, there are a number of tax issues that you should consider before filing your federal tax return. The IRS has compiled a list of 10 things that farmers may want to know before filing their federal tax return.
- Crop Insurance Proceeds You must include in income any crop insurance proceeds you receive as the result of crop damage. You generally include them in the year you receive them.
- Sales Caused by Weather-Related Condition If you sell more livestock, including poultry, than you normally would in a year because of weather-related conditions, you may be able to choose to postpone reporting the gain from selling the additional animals due to the weather until the next year.
- Farm Income Averaging You may be able to average all or some of your current year’s farm income by allocating it to the three prior years. This may lower your current year tax if your current year income from farming is high, and your taxable income from one or more of the three prior years was low. This method does not change your prior year tax, it only uses the prior year information to determine your current year tax.
- Deductible Farm Expenses The ordinary and necessary costs of operating a farm for profit are deductible business expenses. An ordinary expense is an expense that is common and accepted in the farming business. A necessary expense is one that is appropriate for the business.
- Employeesand hired help You can deduct reasonable wages paid for labor hired to perform your farming operations. This would include full-time employees as well as part-time workers.
- Items Purchased for Resale You may be able to deduct the cost of livestock and other items purchased for resale in the year of sale. This cost includes freight charges for transporting the livestock to the farm.
- Net Operating Losses If your deductible expenses from operating your farm are more than your other income for the year, you may have a net operating loss. If you have a net operating loss this year, you can carry it over to other years and deduct it. You may be able to get a refund of part or all of the income tax you paid for past years, or you may be able to reduce your tax in future years.
- Repayment of loans You cannot deduct the repayment of a loan if the loan proceeds are used for personal expenses. However, if you use the proceeds of the loan for your farming business, you can deduct the interest that you pay on the loan.
- Fuel and Road Use You may be eligible to claim a credit or refund of federal excise taxes on fuel used on a farm for farming purposes.
- Farmers Tax Guide More information about farm income and deductions can be found in IRS Publication 225, Farmer’s Tax Guide which is available at IRS.gov or by calling the IRS at 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).
Links:
Related Articles
- IRS Reminds Taxpayers How To Provide Earthquake Relief For Japan (staciesmoretaxtips.wordpress.com)
Stacie’s More Tax Tips Makes a Top Something or Other List
By Stacie Clifford Kitts, CPA
Seems like I am always reading someones top something… tax/accounting/business list and it always makes me wonder – just how does someone get on this list anyway?????
Like for example take Accounting Today/Tomorrow/WebCPA. This group publishes a top 100 most influential people in the accounting industry list. Every year I read it over and wonder – how do they decide who is “most influential” anyway? I mean really, is this a scientific thing? Are there compliance criteria – like a PPC guide “How to Determine the Most Influential People in Accounting” – we are talking about accountants here – I assume there’s a checklist?
I do hope its more scientific than just a bunch of journalists sitting around a conference table, sipping coffee and munching on donuts while someone writes names on a white board. Just picture it, a bunch of bored staff writers some twisting slightly in their chairs, some lounging about, others lazily calling out names. Then someone says, “hey cross off Sally Johnson, she was rude to me at blah blah conference. she doesn’t make it this year.” Yowser,I hope it doesn’t work like that!!!
Recently, I’ve been contacted by a “.com site” or two. These sites were letting me know that I could be listed on a top something list….so –be sure to mention it at Stacie’s More Tax Tips- wont you?
While I get how this whole quid pro quo thingy works, I have declined 100% of the “link to us, we’ll link to you” offers. I’ve even turned down click for payment offers because I didn’t think the link topics where appropriate for my my site.
But you know what, I’ve decided that gosh darn my blog is interesting.. And yes siree, I deserve to be on a top anything list.. And, it has absolutely nothing to do with quid pro quo. Nope, they of course see the genius that is my blog and feel compelled to share. So thanks to bschool.com for naming Stacie’s More Tax Tips in the 50 best Blogs to Get You Through Tax Season.
Oh by the way, the picture is of me and the grandbaby enjoying Christmas day with the family!
Related Articles
- Ping Your Way To a Successful Social Marketing Strategy – It’s A Whole Lot Better Than Being an A-Hole (staciesmoretaxtips.wordpress.com)
- 2010 in Review – The Health of Stacie’s More Tax Tips – I Feel Like Doing The Snoopy Dance! (staciesmoretaxtips.wordpress.com)
- Snubbed Again! And a Sincere Apology (staciesmoretaxtips.wordpress.com)
- Are You All a Twitter About Tax News? Now You Can Follow The IRS @IRSnews (staciesmoretaxtips.wordpress.com)
- IRS Presents:Ten Things Tax-Exempt Organizations Need to Know About the Oct. 15 Due Date (This is a how to on keeping your exempt status) (staciesmoretaxtips.wordpress.com)
- Accounting blogs for the kids (dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com)
- Picking Apart the IRS’ Top 10 Tax Time Tips (staciesmoretaxtips.wordpress.com)
Some Tax Payers Will Need to File Their 1040 Later Rather Than Sooner This Coming Filing Season
Image by vj_pdx via Flickr
By Stacie Clifford Kitts, CPA
Heads up for all taxpayers eager to file your 2010 tax return. The IRS has announced that last weeks changes in the tax law ie the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, extended three provisions that will need to be reprogrammed in the IRS’s processing system. This means that the IRS will not be ready to process some individual returns Form 1040 until mid to late February 2011.
Who is affected:
- People who itemize deductions on Schedule A
- People who claim sales tax deduction, higher education deduction, educator expense deduction
Read on for more detailed information regarding your 2011 tax return filing:
WASHINGTON — Following last week’s tax law changes, the Internal Revenue Service announced today the upcoming tax season will start on time for most people, but taxpayers affected by three recently reinstated deductions need to wait until mid- to late February to file their individual tax returns. In addition, taxpayers who itemize deductions on Form 1040 Schedule A will need to wait until mid- to late February to file as well.
The start of the 2011 filing season will begin in January for the majority of taxpayers. However, last week’s changes in the law mean that the IRS will need to reprogram its processing systems for three provisions that were extended in the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 that became law on Dec. 17.
People claiming any of these three items — involving the state and local sales tax deduction, higher education tuition and fees deduction and educator expenses deduction as well as those taxpayers who itemize deductions on Form 1040 Schedule A — will need to wait to file their tax returns until tax processing systems are ready, which the IRS estimates will be in mid- to late February.
“The majority of taxpayers will be able to fill out their tax returns and file them as they normally do,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “We will do everything we can to minimize the impact of recent tax law changes on other taxpayers. The IRS will work through the holidays and into the New Year to get our systems reprogrammed and ensure taxpayers have a smooth tax season.”
The IRS will announce a specific date in the near future when it can start processing tax returns impacted by the late tax law changes. In the interim, people in the affected categories can start working on their tax returns, but they should not submit their returns until IRS systems are ready to process the new tax law changes.
The IRS urged taxpayers to use e-file instead of paper tax forms to minimize confusion over the recent tax changes and ensure accurate tax returns.
Taxpayers will need to wait to file if they are within any of the following three categories:
- Taxpayers claiming itemized deductions on Schedule A. Itemized deductions include mortgage interest, charitable deductions, medical and dental expenses as well as state and local taxes. In addition, itemized deductions include the state and local general sales tax deduction extended in the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 enacted Dec. 17, which primarily benefits people living in areas without state and local income taxes and is claimed on Schedule A, Line 5. Because of late Congressional action to enact tax law changes, anyone who itemizes and files a Schedule A will need to wait to file until mid- to late February.
- Taxpayers claiming the Higher Education Tuition and Fees Deduction. This deduction for parents and students — covering up to $4,000 of tuition and fees paid to a post-secondary institution — is claimed on Form 8917. However, the IRS emphasized that there will be no delays for millions of parents and students who claim other education credits, including the American Opportunity Tax Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit.
- Taxpayers claiming the Educator Expense Deduction. This deduction is for kindergarten through grade 12 educators with out-of-pocket classroom expenses of up to $250. The educator expense deduction is claimed on Form 1040, Line 23, and Form 1040A, Line 16.
For those falling into any of these three categories, the delay affects both paper filers and electronic filers.
The IRS emphasized that e-file is the fastest, best way for those affected by the delay to get their refunds. Those who use tax-preparation software can easily download updates from their software provider. The IRS Free File program also will be updated.
As part of this effort, the IRS will be working closely with the tax software industry and tax professional community to minimize delays and ensure a smooth tax season.
Updated information will be posted on IRS.gov. This will include an updated copy of Schedule A as well as updated state and local sales tax tables. Several other forms used by relatively few taxpayers are also affected by the recent changes, and more details are available on IRS.gov.
In addition, the IRS reminds employers about the new withholding tables released Friday for 2011. Employers should implement the 2011 withholding tables as soon as possible, but not later than Jan. 31, 2011. The IRS also reminds employers that Publication 15, (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide, containing the extensive wage bracket tables that some employers use, will be available on IRS.gov before year’s end.
Related Item: Forms Affected By the Extender Provisions
