Tax news and information - Journal of Accountancy

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February 1, 2015

Michael K. Syracuse, CPA

A conversation with Michael K. Syracuse, CPA, CFO, Harlem Globetrotters International.

February 1, 2015

Gross income omissions and the 6-year tax assessment period

How taxpayers can guard against doubling the statute-of-limitation period for the IRS to assess tax.

February 1, 2015

Ebola relief qualifies for leave-based donations

The IRS provided guidance on leave-based donation payments aiding victims of the Ebola outbreak.

February 1, 2015

Merger of family businesses results in gift tax

The Tax Court held that a merger of a family’s two businesses resulted in a $29.6 million transfer from the parents to their three sons and a gift tax deficiency. However, the court denied failure-to-file penalties on the gift due to the taxpayers’ reliance on a “competent professional.”

February 1, 2015

Final regs. prescribe E&P treatment in corporate reorganizations

New rules under Sec. 381 change which corporation succeeds to the tax attributes, including the earnings and profits (E&P), of the transferor or distributor corporation in certain acquisitions.

February 1, 2015

Thompson receives highest AICPA honor in tax

Patricia A. Thompson received the 2014 Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award, the highest honor bestowed by the accounting profession in the area of taxation.

February 1, 2015

What to do when your client receives a summons

This column addresses summonses when issued in taxpayer examinations and is not designed or intended to be a full articulation of the significant legal implications of a summons or its enforcement.

February 1, 2015

IRS realigns compliance operations

The IRS in November completed reorganization of its compliance operations serving individual and small business taxpayers.

February 1, 2015

Expired tax provisions extended for 2014

Congress acted at the end of its lame-duck session to retroactively extend a host of expired tax provisions affecting the 2015 filing season.

February 1, 2015

IRS fills in details of one-a-year IRA rollover rule

Under transition relief, the Bobrow aggregation rule disregards certain distributions occurring in 2014.

February 1, 2015

Affiliated group with QPSC allowed graduated tax rates

Regulations do not support the IRS’s “two baskets” approach of separating qualified personal service corporation income, the Tax Court holds.

February 1, 2015

FAQs on additional Medicare tax updated

The IRS provided additional guidance on the 0.9% additional Medicare payroll tax by updating two frequently asked questions (FAQs) on its webpage.

February 1, 2015

Seventh Circuit denies plaintiffs’ standing to challenge parsonage allowance

Group’s leaders did not claim the income exemption. Finding the plaintiffs lacked standing, the Seventh Circuit vacated a district court’s holding that the Sec. 107(2) “parsonage” rental allowance income exclusion for ministers violates the Constitution and remanded the case with instructions to dismiss it for lack of jurisdiction. Facts: Freedom

February 1, 2015

Merged corporations can offset tax interest

The surviving corporation and acquired corporations in a merger are considered the same taxpayer for purposes of interest offsetting.

January 28, 2015

Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program to remain open indefinitely

The IRS stated that it intends to keep its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program open until it announces otherwise.

January 26, 2015

Taxpayers get penalty relief for incorrect premium tax credit advance payments

The IRS announced penalty relief for taxpayers who find they owe tax when they reconcile the advance payments of the premium tax credit they received with the amount they were entitled to when they file their 2014 tax returns.

January 23, 2015

Charter schools can participate in government retirement plans

The IRS announced that it will develop regulations that would permit a state or local retirement system that qualifies as a governmental plan to cover employees of charter schools.

January 20, 2015

Details of the president’s State of the Union tax proposals

The president aims to increase capital gains taxes for higher-income taxpayers in order to pay for various education, child care, and retirement benefits for middle-income taxpayers.

January 20, 2015

Proposed rules would govern Sec. 41 credit for software

The IRS issued proposed rules to provide guidance on what types of internal-use software qualify for the Sec. 41 research credit, an area of considerable controversy over the years.

January 16, 2015

IRS updates accounting method change procedures

The new rules apply to automatic and nonautomatic accounting method changes and include a list of automatic changes that do not require IRS consent.

FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

4 ways solo practitioners can stand out

Five years ago, a grieving Angel Zhen started his own CPA firm with no clients and no revenue. Today, he has 300 clients, $600,000 in revenue and 12 weeks of annual vacation. In this JofA article, he shares how he set up his firm and how you could do the same.