Payments Received from Utility for Solar Energy Device Were Gross Income, Not a Subsidy

The IRS has now published a PLR (PLR 201035003) in redacted form that has been the subject of much discussion in Arizona, one dealing with the character of amounts received from utilities for those installing certain solar energy devices.

IRS lost $90MM in erroneous foreign earned income claims, TIGTA states

Recently released report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found after examining 231,277 tax returns from 2008 tax year that 23,334 taxpayers claiming the exclusion either failed to qualify for the exclusion or inaccurately computed the exclusion.

U.S. citizen or resident alien’s worldwide income is generally subject to U.S. income tax, regardless of where they live. However, if they meet certain conditions they are eligible to claim foreign earned income exclusion and can exclude up to $91,500 of foreign earned income. TIGTA further observed that in 2008 taxpayers excluded $19.2 billion in foreign earned income on their tax returns; out of this, the erroneous claims totaled $675 million and the tax avoided was estimated at $90 million.

According to TIGTA Inspector General J. Russell George, “Over five years, the estimated revenue loss to the IRS could total more than $450 million. Improvements must be made to reduce erroneously claimed foreign earned income tax exclusions.” It is likely IRS will focus on this area in near future due to substantial revenue loss.

IRS Loses Debt Discharge Income Case Where Discharge Found to Have Occurred Other Than in Year of Issuance of 1099-C

While discharge of indebtedness does, absent the applicability of an exception under §108, result in taxable income, it only does so in the year of the actual debt discharge. That date is not necessarily set by the issuance of a Form 1099-C, an issue the Tax Court pointed out to the IRS in the case of Gaffney v. Commissioner, TC Summary Opinion 2010-128.

Do You Know the Secrets to Triggering Your Customer’s “Buy” Buttons?

In your spare time, maybe on the weekends, do you sit and wonder how the brain works and how you can use your knowledge of the brain to increase your sales? Probably not, but according to authors Patrick Renvoisé and Christophe Morin, maybe you should.

Sweet – very sweet – box.net & Google apps

Box.net goes Google: platform Integration and real-time collaboration

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Editors note: As part of our Going Google Everywhere series, today’s guest blogger is Jen Grant, VP of Marketing at Box.net, a Palo Alto-based start-up that helps businesses collaborate, share, and manage all their content online. Learn more about other organizations that have gone Google on our community map.

When I joined Box.net a few years ago, we weren’t using a web-based email and calendaring solution, despite being “born in the cloud.” At first I POP-ed my email into my personal Gmail (insert groans from IT here). But as the company grew from 40 to 100, it wasn’t hard to convince our IT guru, Jeff, that a move to Google Apps would be best for productivity…and his sanity.

Today, we no longer use our in-house system that required a lot of maintenance and back-ups. Instead we’re heavy users of the Google Apps. We use Gmail, Google Talk and Google Calendar to keep track of our busy schedules and stake out precious conference rooms. And since we’ve grown pretty quickly, being able to collaborate on projects using Google Docs has helped us to work together across our larger teams. Plus, since the launch of the Google Apps Marketplace, the Box and Google Apps platforms are integrated, resulting in the seamless connection of Box’s cloud content management solution with Google Apps. We like to think that the two services were a match made in heaven…or at least the clouds Check out our snazzy video about the integration.

The Box-Google Apps integration helps us work faster and more efficiently. Being able to collaborate across departments as we’ve grown has been essential. My favorite part is the ability to create a Google doc in a Box folder. I get the real-time collaboration of Google Docs and can also assign my CEO a task to approve the final version. Plus our security-sensitive VP of Tech Ops is happy because he can now report on who’s got access to which files in Google Docs. And everyone can access and link to their Box files from Gmail. Peanut butter and chocolate.

Thanks to our move to Google Apps, I’m happy to report that as a service and company, Box operates fully in the cloud. Now that the Box team is hooked on Google Apps, none of us can imagine life without it.

Posted by Ashley Chandler, Google Apps team

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OfficialGoogleEnterpriseBlog/~3/MlIPWvy2qNI/bo…

Posted by J. Michael Stolp from my Verizon BlackBerry Storm 2.

IRS issues Notice 2010-60 regarding foreign financial information reporting under FATCA

IRS this weekend issued highly anticipated guidance regarding the reporting by foreign financial institutions. This reporting is becoming effective for payments made after December 31, 2012. The purpose of the preliminary guidance is to ensure that affected persons have time to implement the systems and processes necessary to comply fully with the new withholding, documentation and reporting obligations resulting from FATCA which was enacted as part of HIRE Act in last March. The Notice includes the scope of definition of foreign financial institution, how to collect information and identify U.S. persons and reporting mechanism of U.S. persons’ foreign accounts to U.S. treasury.

Protect Yourself – Part 2

Identity theft protection tips for those using hard copy checks:

IRS Will Not Rule on Change of Accounting Method From One Being Proposed in Audit

In emailed advice (201033038), the Chief Counsel’s office refused to allow an automatic change of accounting method request of a taxpayer to be processed under the following fact pattern.

More Guidance Issued on Special 5 Year Net Operating Loss Rules

In Notice 2010-58 the IRS issued additional guidance in the form of questions and answers relating to net operating loss elections under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and the Worker, Homeowner and Business Assistance Act of 2009 (WHBAA).  The guidance was issued to address certain issues that have arisen as taxpayers have filed returns related to the net operating loss elections under §172(b)(1)(H) for each of the two acts.

How the fight over tax breaks affects your bottom line

From The Washington Post

Tax cuts enacted under former president George W. Bush are set to expire at year’s end, and lawmakers are battling over whether to extend them before the November elections. Most Republicans want to extend all of the cuts, saying that any increase in taxes will hold back the economic recovery. President Obama and Democratic leaders would extend many of the cuts but say tax breaks for top earners should expire to pare down deficits. Each plan would affect average tax rates for income groups differently.

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— J. Michael Stolp — My Info — See Disclaimer