Taxes

January 14, 2016 

Playing the lottery is a form of gambling. As a result, the usual federal tax rules apply to income and losses resulting from gambling activities. Generally, you can only deduct your losses from wagering up to the annual amount of your income from ...

January 12, 2016 

How do you know if someone has filed a tax return using your Social Security number? And what do you do then? This is happening more and more—the latest General Accounting Office (GAO) report says that IRS paid out over $5.8 billion in fraudulent returns.

January 12, 2016 

  The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) has submitted comments to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about the IRS’s new policy of issuing estate tax closing letters only upon a separate request four months after filing the estate tax return.  The IRS announced changes related to the issuance of estate tax closing letters on the...…

January 12, 2016 

Retirees can once again transfer funds from a retirement account to charity with zero tax consequences. And the new law makes this tax break permanent, so you can now incorporate this strategy into your clients’ long-term plans.

January 11, 2016 

The new tax law signed at the end of last year – the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015 – improves the tax-free transportation benefits that may be offered to employees.

January 7, 2016 

[The new “extenders law” enacted late in 2015 retains several key tax provisions and makes them permanent with certain modifications. This is the third part of a series of articles on these tax breaks.]   The tax law offers some tax relief to cash-strapped parents who are paying for the cost of higher education. Notably, the biggest...…

January 6, 2016 

Several state health groups have praised the move, saying it will help to reduce the number of people who smoke. Danielle Patterson, the Indiana government relations director for the American Heart Association, called it a "win-win" situation in that ...

January 6, 2016 

Bloomberg BNA's popular BNA Income Tax Planner (version 2015.3) software has been updated to support the recently approved Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015. This Act extends or makes permanent the individual tax breaks that have ...

January 6, 2016 

The expanded security features offer additional ways to authenticate tax preparers’ identities upon account sign in and verification of their E-File Identification Number (EFIN) before electronic filing.

January 6, 2016 

E-signatures provide an opportunity to make the upcoming season better for both the taxpayer and the preparer.

January 6, 2016 

In the new tax law signed at the end of the last year – the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act – the credit is extended retroactive to January 1, 2015 and made permanent, with several notable enhancements.

January 5, 2016 

Recent data show the number of actual donors (as a percentage) giving to nonprofit organizations is on the decline, even with actual dollar amounts continuing to rise. Nonprofits will need to explore new giving models and look at ways to capitalize on ...