by mariettacp | Aug 15, 2011 | Accounting News, Money Tips, Tax Preparation
A recent court case reveals that the IRS has discovered a pattern of taxpayers failing to file gift tax returns for real property transfers between nonspouse related parties. As a result, it launched a compliance initiative to capture data from states and counties...
by mariettacp | Aug 12, 2011 | Accounting News, Money Tips, Tax Tips
Married joint return filers are jointly and severally liable for the tax arising from their returns. Innocent spouses may request relief from this liability in certain circumstances. An IRS regulation states that a request for equitable innocent spouse relief must be...
by mariettacp | Aug 10, 2011 | Accounting News, Money Tips, Tax Tips
A district court has dismissed all claims brought by holders of self-directed individual retirement accounts (IRAs) against the IRA trustees for losses incurred by the IRAs for investments with Bernard Madoff’s firm. A number of individuals owned self-directed...
by mariettacp | Aug 8, 2011 | Accounting News, Money Tips, Tax Tips
The Supreme Court has held that investment advisory fees paid by a trust were deductible only to the extent that they exceeded 2% of the trust’s adjusted gross income (AGI). Thus, such expenses didn’t qualify for the exception to the 2% of AGI limit in the...
by mariettacp | Aug 5, 2011 | Accounting News, Money Tips, Tax Preparation
A taxpayer whose debts are forgiven generally has cancellation of debt (COD) income subject to exceptions including one for bankruptcy and one for insolvency. Some taxpayers have taken the position that the bankruptcy exception is available if a grantor trust (trust...
