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Messing with Their Taxes Creates All Kinds of Bad for a San Juan Couple
Avoid a Crime Scene and hire the right accountant
By Stacie Kitts, CPA
When I read a story about someone who appears to have been messing with the tax system for some thirty years, it makes me wonder…..who in the heck did their taxes, and why did it take so long to get busted.
The Orange County District Attorney is reporting that James and Dorothy Klinger, owners of Jamo’s Gardening and Modern Tree Services Inc. are charged with 28 counts of failing to file a return with intent to evade tax, 28 counts of willful failure to pay taxes, and some felony counts for lying about their business to a worker’s compensation insurance company.
These two are looking at spending the rest of their lives in prison if convicted.
They appear to have used an old school tax crook technique and kept two sets of books. You know, one that showed the “real” dollars and one that was a work of fiction.
Was it worth it? You decide….
They are accused of underreporting about $3.6 million in income and $3 million in wages. This translates to about 1.9 million that should have been paid over in taxes (give or take) that they got to keep – for a little while anyway.
I don’t know about you, but $2 million isn’t enough money to risk a 40 year prison sentence. Am I Right!?
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- IRS Reminds Taxpayers How To Provide Earthquake Relief For Japan (staciesmoretaxtips.wordpress.com)
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Another Dreaded IRS Reporting Requirement Gets Interim Guidance Today. Health Coverage Reporting Requirement on Form W2
IRS
By Stacie Clifford Kitts, CPA
Well here it is, guidance on more reporting requirements. If you are an employer providing health insurance coverage for your employees, Good For You. And….. now the IRS wants to track it. So add this to the long list of other reporting requirements dear business owners. If you file 250 or more W2’s, starting in 2012 you will need to report employee health insurance premiums on Form w2. Employers with less than 250 W2’s are exempt until further notice. I guess there is always a small sliver of a silver lining.
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued interim guidance to employers on informational reporting on each employee’s annual Form W-2 of the cost of the health insurance coverage they sponsor for employees. The IRS is also requesting comments on this interim guidance. The IRS emphasized that this new reporting to employees is for their information only, to inform them of the cost of their health coverage, and does not cause excludable employer-provided health coverage to become taxable; employer-provided health coverage continues to be excludable from an employee’s income, and is not taxable.
The Affordable Care Act provides that employers are required to report the cost of employer-provided health care coverage on the Form W-2. Notice 2010-69, issued last fall, made this requirement optional for all employers for the 2011 Forms W-2 (generally furnished to employees in January 2012). In today’s guidance, the IRS provided further relief for smaller employers (those filing fewer than 250 W-2 forms) by making this requirement optional for them at least for 2012 (i.e., for 2012 Forms W-2 that generally would be furnished to employees in January 2013) and continuing this optional treatment for smaller employers until further guidance is issued.
Using a question-and-answer format, Notice 2011-28 also provides guidance for employers that are subject to this requirement for the 2012 Forms W-2 and those that choose to voluntarily comply with it for either 2011 or 2012. The notice includes information on how to report, what coverage to include and how to determine the cost of the coverage.
The 2011 Form W-2, prior IRS Notice 2010-69 deferring the reporting requirement for 2011, and Notice 2011-28 containing the new guidance are available on IRS.gov.
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- Health Care and Taxes: A Pause Before Impact (nytimes.com)
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IRS Patrol: IRS Provides Help For Small Employers Eligible to Claim the Small Business Health Tax Credit for the 2010 Tax Year.
Image via Wikipedia
Help is always nice to get – specially with all the new tax rules out there – and more on the way. I can hardly keep them all straight. If you are wondering if you qualify for this credit read on.
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today released final guidance for small employers eligible to claim the new small business health care tax credit for the 2010 tax year. Today’s release includes a one-page form and instructions small employers will use to claim the credit for the 2010 tax year.
New Form 8941, Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums, and newly revised Form 990-T are now available on IRS.gov. The IRS also posted on its website the instructions to Form 8941 and Notice 2010-82 , both of which are designed to help small employers correctly figure and claim the credit.
Included in the Affordable Care Act enacted in March, the small business health care tax credit is designed to encourage both small businesses and small tax-exempt organizations to offer health insurance coverage to their employees for the first time or maintain coverage they already have.
The new guidance addresses small business questions about which firms qualify for the credit by clarifying that a broad range of employers meet the eligibility requirements, including religious institutions that provide coverage through denominational organizations, small employers that cover their workers through insured multiemployer health and welfare plans, and employers that subsidize their employees’ health care costs through a broad range of contribution arrangements.
In general, the credit is available to small employers that pay at least half of the premiums for single health insurance coverage for their employees. It is specifically targeted to help small businesses and tax-exempt organizations that primarily employ moderate- and lower-income workers.
Small businesses can claim the credit for 2010 through 2013 and for any two years after that. For tax years 2010 to 2013, the maximum credit is 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible small businesses and 25 percent of premiums paid by eligible tax-exempt organizations. Beginning in 2014, the maximum tax credit will increase to 50 percent of premiums paid by eligible small business employers and 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible tax-exempt organizations.
The maximum credit goes to smaller employers –– those with 10 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees –– paying annual average wages of $25,000 or less. The credit is completely phased out for employers that have 25 or more FTEs or that pay average wages of $50,000 or more per year. Because the eligibility rules are based in part on the number of FTEs, not the number of employees, employers that use part-time workers may qualify even if they employ more than 25 individuals.
Eligible small businesses will first use Form 8941 to figure the credit and then include the amount of the credit as part of the general business credit on its income tax return.
Tax-exempt organizations will first use Form 8941 to figure their refundable credit, and then claim the credit on Line 44f of Form 990-T. Though primarily filed by those organizations liable for the tax on unrelated business income, Form 990-T will also be used by any eligible tax-exempt organization to claim the credit, regardless of whether they are subject to this tax.
More information about the credit, including a step-by-step guide to claiming the credit and answers to frequently asked questions, is available on the Affordable Care Act page on IRS.gov.
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- New report: Employer health insurance premiums increased 41 percent from 2003 to 2009 (eurekalert.org)
- New Report: Affordable Care Act Could Save Families Over $3,000 Per Year (whitehouse.gov)
IRS Patrol: New Form 8941 -IRS Releases Form to Help Small Businesses Claim New Health Care Tax Credit
Image via Wikipedia
WASHINGTON –– The Internal Revenue Service today released a draft version of the form that small businesses and tax-exempt organizations will use to calculate the small business health care tax credit when they file income tax returns next year. The IRS also announced how eligible tax-exempt organizations –– which do not generally file income tax returns –– will claim the credit during the 2011 filing season.
The IRS has posted a draft of Form 8941 on IRS.gov. Both small businesses and tax-exempt organizations will use the form to calculate the credit. A small business will then include the amount of the credit as part of the general business credit on its income tax return.
Tax-exempt organizations will instead claim the small business health care tax credit on a revised Form 990-T. The Form 990-T is currently used by tax-exempt organizations to report and pay the tax on unrelated business income. Form 990-T will be revised for the 2011 filing season to enable eligible tax-exempt organizations –– even those that owe no tax on unrelated business income –– also to claim the small business health care tax credit.
The final version of Form 8941 and its instructions will be available later this year.
The small business health care tax credit was included in the Affordable Care Act signed by the President in March and is effective this year. The credit is designed to encourage small employers to offer health insurance coverage for the first time or maintain coverage they already have.
In 2010, the credit is generally available to small employers that contribute an amount equivalent to at least half the cost of single coverage towards buying health insurance for their employees. The credit is specifically targeted to help small businesses and tax-exempt organizations that primarily employ moderate- and lower-income workers.
For tax years 2010 to 2013, the maximum credit is 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible small business employers and 25 percent of premiums paid by eligible employers that are tax-exempt organizations. Beginning in 2014, the maximum tax credit will go up to 50 percent of premiums paid by eligible small business employers and 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible, tax-exempt organizations for two years. The maximum credit goes to smaller employers ¬¬–– those with 10 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees ––¬¬ paying annual average wages of $25,000 or less.
The credit is completely phased out for employers that have 25 FTEs or more or that pay average wages of $50,000 per year or more. Because the eligibility rules are based in part on the number of FTEs, and not simply the number of employees, businesses that use part-time help may qualify even if they employ more than 25 individuals.
More information about the credit, including a step-by-step guide and answers to frequently asked questions, is available on the Affordable Care Act page on the IRS website.
Stacie's Tax Tips and Other Stuff 