tax
Preserve estate tax portability
Monday, October 24th, 2011 | tax | No Comments
To preserve estate tax portability, executors must file Form 706 Estate Tax Return for decedents dying in 2011 and later. The nine month filing deadline may be extended an additional six months. This election is not available for decedents dying before 2011.
In the law reinstating the estate tax in 2010, Congress established an exclusion amount of $5 million per person in 2011 (adjusted for inflation in future years). An estate with a taxable value below this amount is not subject to federal tax (the limit remains at $1 million in Tennessee). The law also provided for any unused exclusion amount to be passed on to the surviving spouse. The election to do so is made, and the amount is established, by timely filing an estate tax return for the decedent. The return must be filed even though it may not be otherwise required under the estate tax rules.
In a common scenario, the estate assets of the first spouse to die are transferred to the surviving spouse, either through joint ownership with right of survivorship or by will. This may result in accumulation of assets in the surviving spouse’s estate that would exceed the $5 million exclusion, resulting in estate tax liability. The portability election allows the unused exclusion amount of the first spouse to die to be added to that of the second to die, sheltering additional assets from estate tax.
This election is a new estate planning tool that can help a family preserve its assets. Good estate planning may reduce or eliminate the need to take advantage of the portability election. If your family has substantial assets such as a family business or investments, you may benefit from a discussion with an accountant and an attorney who are both familiar with estate planning and tax reduction techniques, as we are. If a loved one passed away in 2011, timing is critical to preserving the estate tax portability election.
Estate tax filing relief
Thursday, September 15th, 2011 | tax | No Comments
The IRS has provided some estate tax filing relief for executors of the estates of those who died in 2010. Notice 2011-76 provides an automatic extension of time to file and pay the estate tax due. The rules generally apply to estates exceeding $5 million.
The estate tax was repealed for 2010 and was replaced with a complicated carryover basis calculation to determine the value of inherited assets. Congress reinstated the estate tax retroactively and let executors choose whether to be governed by the estate tax rules or opt out and use the carryover basis rules, adding another layer of complexity. As a result of the new law, guidance and forms were delayed. Updated instructions for Form 706 were posted only recently, and Form 8939 to make the election is still in draft form.
The IRS has changed the due date of Form 8939 to January 17, 2012. This is not an extension, so an additional form is not required.
For executors who timely filed an extension to file the estate tax return on Form 4768, the extended deadline is now March 19, 2012 for most decedents. For dates of death between December 16, 2010 and January 1, 2011, the extended deadline is 15 months after the date of death.
The notice also provides late-filing and late-payment penalty relief, although interest will still be charged for tax not paid by the original due date of the return.
Bathroom as home office?
Thursday, August 18th, 2011 | consulting, tax | No Comments
The Tax Court ruled that a taxpayer cannot claim his bathroom as a home office in Bulas v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2011-201 (Aug. 17, 2011). (Insert your own joke or mental image here….)
The taxpayer had a home-based business, a tax practice for which he used one bedroom of his home as an office. He built a bathroom adjacent to the office for his clients to use. He argued that the bathroom and the hallway between the rooms should also be considered part of the home office, which would increase the deductible percentage of his home-related expenses.
According to the IRS, in order for a home office to be claimed on your tax return, it must be exclusively used on a regular basis
- (A) as the principal place of business for any trade or business of the taxpayer,
- (B) as a place of business which is used by patients, clients, or customers in meeting or dealing with the taxpayer in the normal course of his trade or business.
In this specific case, the taxpayer admitted to the court that his daughters and house guests sometimes used the bathroom. This occasional use by the family caused the bathroom to fail the “regular and exclusive use” test. The taxpayer might have successfully included the bathroom and hallway as part of the office if access by non-clients was limited, perhaps by a lockable door that separated the office “suite” from the rest of the house.
We can help you with creative and legitimate strategies for using your home office to save taxes. This deduction is subject to greater scrutiny from the IRS, so we can also help you maintain proof that your home office meets the requirements. With proper setup and records, the home office deduction can make a difference in your tax bill.
If you operate a company out of your home that is set up as an S-corporation, ask us about a plan that can secure the benefits of the home office deduction for your business.
Plan now to save taxes
Tuesday, August 9th, 2011 | consulting, tax | No Comments
Summer is a good time to talk with us about planning to save taxes next year. We have more time to help you take stock of the first half of the year and explore options before it’s too late in the year for them to make a difference.
Among those options:
- Consider equipment purchases, to take advantage of tax incentives that may expire soon.
- Improve facilities and depreciate them under accelerated schedules set to expire at the end of 2011.
- Take advantage of hiring incentives if you need extra help.
- Consider hiring your children and pay less employment taxes.
- Set up and contribute to a retirement plan, or consider whether your present plan is the optimum choice, to defer paying tax on income.
- Make sure your records support deductions for vehicle use, travel and entertainment.
- Look into net operating loss carrybacks to recover taxes paid in prior years.
- Adjust your estimated tax payments for the second half of the year.
Consult with us to gauge the tax impact of various options you are considering. And remember, don’t let the tail wag the dog. No one wants to pay more taxes than necessary, but first consider the questions, “Is this the best decision for my business? Will this help my company achieve its goals?”
Offshore voluntary disclosure deadline
Tuesday, August 9th, 2011 | consulting, tax | No Comments
The deadline in the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative is August 31. For several years, the IRS has required taxpayers to disclose their accounts and income from foreign countries. The 2011 program offers taxpayers penalty reductions if they voluntarily disclose their offshore holdings and income rather than waiting for the IRS to find them.
The foreign financial account disclosure regulations carry onerous civil and criminal penalties for hiding offshore accounts and income. If you are concerned about your exposure to the IRS foreign financial account disclosure requirements, please contact us right away to discuss your options.
Beware of IRS emails
Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 | tax | No Comments
IRS says bogus email scams are resurfacing, including one involving payments allegedly rejected by the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. The email has a link that may download malicious software.
IRS does not initiate communications with taxpayers by email. Check here for information on what to do if you receive a suspicious IRS-related communication. Or call us for help.
Standard mileage rates change
Friday, July 1st, 2011 | consulting, tax | No Comments
The IRS has adjusted the standard mileage rates beginning July 1, 2011, in response to higher gasoline prices. The new standard mileage rates will apply through the end of 2011.
Mileage Rate Changes
|
Purpose |
Rates 1/1 through 6/30/11 |
Rates 7/1 through 12/31/11 |
|
Business |
51 |
55.5 |
|
Medical/Moving |
19 |
23.5 |
|
Charitable |
14 |
14 |
You have the option of tracking actual vehicle costs or using the standard rates to calculate your vehicle expense deduction. You may deduct parking fees and tolls under either method. Remember to write down your odometer reading today and at year-end to help track total miles for each half of the year.
You do keep a mileage log, don’t you? The IRS has been finding easy money by increasing audits of business mileage because many taxpayers do not keep adequate records. You may keep your mileage log in any format that is convenient for you. IRS dictates that the log should contain the number of miles (beginning and ending odometer readings are best) for each business trip, the destination(s), and the business purpose of the trip. Anything less, and the deduction may be disallowed. If you spend the day on the road going to multiple work locations, a daily total is adequate along with a list of the locations you visited.
Another business mileage trip-up relates to commuting miles. If you do not report expenses for business use of your home, you had better report commuting mileage with your business mileage deduction. IRS says that mileage from home to the first work location of the day and from the last work location to home is non-deductible commuting mileage. If you do have a home office, then your home office is your first and last work location, and all mileage to other work locations throughout the day is deductible.
For more details about business, medical, moving, and charitable mileage deductions, feel free to call or email us. As with all things tax-related, special rules abound related to company expense reimbursement plans, personal use of company vehicles, depreciation, and other vehicle-related issues. We can help bring you peace of mind by setting up a reporting system that will pass muster with the IRS.
Chevy Volt tax credit may not be yours
Monday, June 6th, 2011 | tax | 1 Comment
The Chevy Volt, General Motors’ electric car, may bring a $7500 tax credit to the original purchaser of the car. But is that you or the dealership? Stories are surfacing that dealers are using the common practice of dealer trades to get the cars titled, claim the tax credits for themselves, and then sell the cars as ‘used’. This maneuver subverts the intent of the credit to subsidize retail consumers’ purchases of the vehicles. It also inflates the sales numbers that GM reports.
The National Legal and Policy Center reported (here and here) on this practice, and the story has been picked up by automobilemag.com and Fox Business Network. IRS Form 8936, used to claim the credit, does not contain a space to record each vehicle’s VIN, raising the possibility that the credit could be claimed twice (that’s $15,000 of our taxpayer dollars) for vehicles involved in such actions. The IRS may also disallow the credit claimed by the retail customer, forcing repayment plus penalties and interest by the taxpayers for whom the credit was intended.
If you are considering buying a Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, or other plug-in electric vehicle, make sure you are buying the vehicle new in order to claim the credit. If the vehicle has been previously titled, you are not eligible. We also suggest saving your paperwork. We anticipate that the IRS will demand various forms of proof that you are eligible to claim the credit. In a similar manner regarding the first-time homebuyer credit, we have seen many taxpayers’ refunds held up for many weeks while the IRS demands and examines stacks of records to ensure that the credits are paid only to those who are eligible.
Bureaucratic snafu resolved
Friday, April 29th, 2011 | consulting, tax | No Comments
We helped one of our clients solve a problem today by resolving a bureaucratic snafu. The issue relates to one of the many areas where the federal and state governments communicate with each other. For owners of heavy trucks, the state requires county clerks to obtain verification that the federal heavy highway vehicle use tax has been paid before issuing a new registration annually. This has been a standard procedure for many years to ensure that heavy haulers pay for the extra wear and tear their big rigs inflict on the nation’s highways.
For several years, our client has been resigned to the apparent requirement and has dutifully paid the tax because otherwise, the company could not get tags for their truck. We found out about the situation as we worked on an unrelated matter. We learned that this particular type of truck is exempt under federal tax code because it is not designed to haul loads. But the county clerk’s staffers refused to issue the tags until our client provided proof that the tax had been paid.
We did some research, pulled the documentation together, and called the county clerk’s office. At first the clerk was not aware that an exception to the law existed. After we explained the exception and the fact that our client’s truck met the requirements for the tax exemption, she called her colleague at the state level. She confirmed that indeed there is an exception and the state has a procedure in place to handle it that the county clerk’s office was unaware of until today. She now has an affidavit for our client to sign to certify that their truck is exempt so they can get tags for their truck.
The representative from the county clerk’s office called us back to let us know that she would immediately inform the staff and make the affidavit available to our client and all others who apply for tags for an exempt vehicle. We solved a problem for our client that saves them a significant tax cost each year.
If you own a heavy truck subject to the heavy highway vehicle tax and you file IRS Form 2290, check the instructions for the exemption rules or call us, and we can help you determine if your vehicles are exempt. This is just one of the many ways we go beyond the usual tax-and-accounting CPA services to help our clients solve problems.
Filed an extension - now what?
Thursday, April 28th, 2011 | consulting, tax | No Comments
You pulled your records together and worked on your tax return, maybe using an “easy-to navigate” software program. But you were left with a nagging feeling that there may be something you missed, so you filed an extension.
Now what?
We’ve received calls from several people in this situation, asking us if we would take a look at their returns. This is a smart call if you have items on your return that are new for this year, or if an unusual event occurred in 2010. The mainstream tax software is designed to be easy for the average user, with questions that take you step-by-step through your return. In their effort at simplicity, sometimes the questions gloss over details in the code that might be important in your particular situation. Sometimes your answer directs the software to another module and list of questions, or to skip some questions. If you answer incorrectly at this stage, you may be messing up without knowing it.
In one recent case, a husband and wife used one of the name-brand tax programs to do their return, which included a business. Because of the way the software asked the questions, they inadvertently entered the same business information in two places on the return, doubling their income. Because of the software’s design, they did not become aware of the error until after they had e-filed the return.
The errors prompted a barrage of notices from the IRS and an audit of their return. They are now spending a lot of time, effort, and money to resolve these issues. The excuse, “it was the software’s fault,” has been tried all the way to Tax Court, and it has failed at every turn.
So if you are not confident that your self-prepared tax return is correct and that you have claimed all the deductions and credits to which you are legitimately entitled, you are smart to have filed an automatic extension. The next step is to gather your records and make an appointment with a tax expert like us. We can review your return and your financial situation to make sure your tax return is accurate and complete and your tax bill is as low as possible.
We’ll also advise you about the possible audit risk of your return. The IRS has been stepping up its examination of such items as employee business expenses, businesses reported on Schedule C of Form 1040, business mileage, and other areas. This means that good recordkeeping is more important than ever to prove that your deductions are legitimate.
Contact us today to quiet those nagging doubts about your return.