Individual income taxation

TOPICS / TAX

January 1, 2020

‘Gifts’ to clergy may be remuneration

Payments to a pastor did not qualify to be excluded from income as a parsonage allowance or as nontaxable gifts.

January 1, 2020

Filing season quick guide — tax year 2019

Download and print this tax season reference highlighting dollar thresholds, tax tables, standard amounts, credits, and deductions.

December 23, 2019

Humpty Dumpty meets the tax code

Annette Nellen, Esq., CPA, CGMA, walks us through four recent decisions by the U.S. Tax Court to show how the precise application of a word or phrase can make a world of difference.

December 20, 2019

Qualified opportunity zone regs. finalized

The IRS issued final regulations providing guidance on tax-favored investments in qualified opportunity zones (QOZs).

December 19, 2019

Year-end government spending bill contains many tax provisions

The consolidated appropriations bill passed by Congress makes many changes to retirement plan rules, repeals health care taxes, extends expired tax provisions, and provides tax relief for disaster victims.

December 19, 2019

5th Circuit invalidates health care law’s individual mandate

The Fifth Circuit held that the “individual mandate” under Sec. 5000A, which imposes a “shared responsibility payment” on taxpayers who do not obtain health insurance that provides at least minimum essential coverage, is unconstitutional now that the payment amount has been reduced to zero.

December 16, 2019

Guidance issued on payments to charitable organizations

The IRS issued additional rules on the treatment of deductions for charitable contributions in lieu of state and local taxes, an area in which it has already issued final regulations and other guidance.

December 2, 2019

Deadline for health care information statements extended

As it does every year, the IRS extended the due date to furnish certain health care information statements to individual taxpayers to March 2, 2020.

December 1, 2019

Safe harbor allows QBI deduction for rental real estate businesses

An earlier notice’s proposed rules are finalized with revisions and clarifications.

November 26, 2019

Per-diem method clarified in light of TCJA changes

The IRS issued updated rules for substantiating the amount of ordinary and necessary business expenses paid or incurred while traveling using the per-diem rates.

November 15, 2019

Use of standard mileage rate, other rules are updated for TCJA

The IRS updated its rules concerning the use of standard mileage rates and to reflect the current suspension of miscellaneous itemized deductions and moving expense deductions.

November 1, 2019

Like-kind exchanges and personal property

A recent law change invites new strategies.

November 1, 2019

Alimony tax gap swells to $3.2 billion, TIGTA finds

The difference resulted in $248 million of tax underreporting.

October 14, 2019

Taxpayers may deduct casualty losses in prior years

The IRS finalized regulations permitting taxpayers to deduct disaster losses in the prior tax year and removed the related temporary regulations that were issued in 2016.

October 9, 2019

IRS clarifies the tax treatment of cryptocurrency ‘hard forks’ and ‘airdrops’

The IRS ruled that a taxpayer does not have gross income as a result of a hard fork of a cryptocurrency if the taxpayer does not receive units of a new cryptocurrency, but does have gross income as a result of an airdrop of new cryptocurrency after a hard fork if the taxpayer receives units of the new cryptocurrency.

October 1, 2019

Purported family loans were not bona fide, Tax Court holds

The bank deposit method supports an IRS underpayment assessment.

September 25, 2019

IRS issues 2019 to 2020 per-diem rates for traveling away from home

The IRS issued its annual notice specifying the special per-diem rates, including the transportation industry meal and incidental expenses rates, the rate for the incidental-expenses-only deduction, and the rates and list of high-cost localities for purposes of the high-low substantiation method.

September 24, 2019

Safe harbor allows QBI deduction for rental real estate businesses

The IRS issued a revenue procedure describing the requirements taxpayers have to meet to be a rental real estate business that qualifies for the safe harbor to be treated as a trade or business in order to qualify for the Sec. 199A qualified business income deduction.

September 20, 2019

Final regs. loosen 401(k) hardship distribution requirements

The IRS issued final regulations governing hardship distributions from Sec. 401(k) plans, eliminating the requirements that participants obtain a loan from the plan if available and that suspend participants’ ability to make contributions to the plans for six months after taking a hardship distribution.

September 9, 2019

IRS offers expatriate tax relief

The IRS announced procedures to allow certain individuals who have renounced their U.S. citizenship to get into compliance with their US tax obligations and obtain relief for back taxes.