Tightened home sale exclusion and other revenue raisers in the 2008 Housing Act Mike Habib, EA To pay for the $15.1 billion of housing tax incentives in the recently enacted “Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008” (the Housing Act), Congress passed several offsetting revenue raisers, including a requirement that banks…
Credit for first-time homebuyers in the 2008 Housing Act Mike Habib, EA The single largest provision in the $15.1 billion package of housing tax incentives in the recently enacted “Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008” (the Housing Act) is a measure allowing individuals buying their first home to take a…
Property tax deduction for non-itemizers in the 2008 Housing Act Included in the $15.1 billion package of housing tax incentives in the recently enacted “Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008” (the Housing Act) is a measure creating a new, temporary property tax deduction for non-itemizers (i.e., for taxpayers who claim…
IRS explains how to claim (or elect out of) 50% Kansas bonus depreciation Notice 2008-67, 2008-32 IRB Mike Habib, EA The Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, popularly known as the Farm Act, provided temporary GO Zone-style tax relief for taxpayers in Kiowa County, Kansas, and surrounding areas, who…
Doctors get socked with big tax and penalties for donations tied to consolidation of their practice Berquistist and Kendrick, et al., (2008) 131 TC No. 2 Mike Habib, EA The Tax Court has determined that doctors grossly overvalued charitable donations of stock in their medical professional service corporation (PSC) that…
No FUTA exemption for staffing company that was considered the employer for state UI purposes Chief Counsel Advice 200827007 Mike Habib, EA The IRS has denied a federal unemployment tax (FUTA) exemption to a staffing company because it did not consider the company to be the common law employer of…
Proposed revenue ruling gives green light to use of private trust companies Notice 2008-63, 2008-31 IRB Mike Habib, EA A new notice contains a proposed revenue ruling that would allow families to use private trust companies (PTCs) in their estate planning without adverse income, estate, gift or generation-skipping transfer (GST)…
National Taxpayer Advocate annual report to Congress identifies priorities and issues for upcoming year [IR 2008-87]: An annual report on the priority challenges and issues facing the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate (OTA) was delivered to Congress on July 8. The report, National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2009 Objectives Report to Congress,…
Charitable remainder trust can be divided into separate trusts without adverse tax consequences Rev Rul 2008-41, 2008-30 IRB Mike Habib, EA In the context of two fairly detailed factual situations, a new revenue ruling makes it clear that a charitable remainder trust (CRT) can be divided into two or more…
IRS discusses easing of cell phone recordkeeping requirements [Information Letter 2008-0012]: The IRS has issued an information letter in response to a question regarding the noted difficultly that states and localities are having drafting cell phone policies that comply with IRS recordkeeping requirements. Under IRC §162(a), individuals may take deductions…