IRS Announces Plan to Require Disclosure of FIN48 Information by Corporations With Assets Greater than $10 Million

As some had surmised was likely to happen, the IRS is getting ready to make use of the data regarding uncertain tax positions being assembled by entities to comply with FIN48 (now in FASB ASC 740-10). The IRS announced that it is considering requiring business taxpayers with total assets in excess of $10 million that [...]

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IRS Wants Firms to Flag Tax Strategies

Large corporations will be required to file a summary of their questionable tax positions to the Internal Revenue Service under a plan announced Tuesday designed to give the agency a road map for preventing tax avoidance. US: Business News:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703906204575027320135790934.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us_business Reading this on your Blackberry? Try The Wall Street Journal Mobile Reader now by clicking http://www.wsjmobilereader.com.” [...]

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There are few totally original ideas.

Most good ideas are borrowed from other ideas, or simply reformat existing ideas in new, interesting ways. I developed this precise 5 X 11 approach for my personal time management a decade ago. I am certain that these ideas which I developed for my personal habits & discipline drew heavily from various coaches & time [...]

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Taxpayer Both Properly Discloses a Position and Fails on Another When Dealing with §6662 Penalty

The Tax Court took a look at what represents adequate disclosure and a reasonable basis for a position in the case of Campbell v. Commissioner, 134 TC No. 3.

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Congress Passes Bill Allowing Cash Contributions for Haitian Earthquake Relief Made in January and February Deductible on 2009 Returns

In response to the earthquake in Haiti, Congress has unanimously enacted the Haitian Assistance Income Tax Relief Act.  That bill contains three provisions that apply to contributions for Haitian earthquake relief.  Taxpayers may elect to treat any contribution made after January 11, 2010 and before March 1, 2010 as if it were made on December 31, [...]

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Distribution from Qualified Plan Does Not Qualify for Relief from 10% Premature Distribution Tax Under First Time Homeowner Exception

John Armbrust (Armbrust v. Commissioner, TC Summary Opinion 2010-5) ran into what appears, even to the Tax Court, to be a rather arbitrary distinction between funds received from an IRA and a qualified plan.  However, the Court found that the law was clear and it had no choice but to subject the entirety of John’s [...]

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Bill Gates brings far-ranging musings to the Web

AP – When Bill Gates was at Microsoft’s helm, his internal memos set the company’s course for such radical shifts as the rise of the Internet. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100120/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_techbit_bill_gates_new_site Posted by J. Michael Stolp from my Verizon BlackBerry Storm 2.

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YouTube – Lost Generation

YouTube – Lost Generation. You may find this video very clever. A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward.  Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite. This is only a 1 minute, 44 second video and it is brilliant.   Make [...]

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Taxpayer’s Own Error Writing Down Account Number Not Good Enough to Get IRA to Approve Late IRA Rollover

In PLR 201002049 the IRS again made clear that if you want relief for a late IRA rollover, you are generally going to need to show one of the specific reasons cited in Revenue Procedure 2003-16.

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Financial audit…are you ready?

Ever need to scramble to get ready for a financial field audit?  Why is that? We shuffle paper all year, process thousands upon thousands of transactions and dollars and still play “reconcile the balance sheet” catch up at year end. 

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