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TOPICS / TAX

Individual income taxation

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.

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.

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.

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.

Proposed regs. govern maximum automobile values

The IRS issued proposed rules that provide maximum automobile values for the cents-per-mile and fleet-average valuation rules used to determine the amount to include in an employee’s gross income for personal use of an employer-provided vehicle.

Alimony tax gap swells to $3.2 billion, TIGTA finds

Discrepancies between the amount of alimony deducted by payers and reported as income by its recipients increased by 38% in six years, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported.

Broadened definition of Sec. 152 dependents

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 greatly increased the availability of the child tax credit. Find out the definition of dependent for those purposes and for taking advantage of “surviving spouse” status.

IRS changes maximum-vehicle-value rule

The IRS revised its maximum-vehicle-value rule for personal use of an employer-provided vehicle for 2019 for both the cents-per-mile rule and the fleet-average-valuation rule.

IRS expands relief from underpayment penalty

The IRS announced that it is lowering from 85% to 80% the amount taxpayers are required to have paid in order to escape an underpayment of estimated income tax penalty for 2018.

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