Executive's Tax & Management Report articles from January 2008

Executive's Tax & Management Report archives from January 2008

Congress eyes AMT relief.(alternative minimum tax)(United States. Congress. House)
January 1, 2008... At press time, Congress was racing the clock to provide another year of alternative minimum tax (AMT) relief. AMT Relief As it has for several years, Congress is expected to approve AMT relief, likely in the form of an increased AMT...

IRS seeks to match taxpayers with undeliverable refunds.(Tax administration)(United States. Internal Revenue Service)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... The IRS is spreading the word that it still has about $110 million in undeliverable 2006 refunds. Averaging $953, the refund checks were returned to the IRS as undeliverable. The IRS says it needs updated addresses from the affected...

New option for pending method change applications.(DEALING WITH THE IRS)(United States. Internal Revenue Service)
January 1, 2008... A taxpayer with a pending accounting method change application may now request that the IRS revise the year for which such change would become effective (the "year of change"). Background Information Generally, taxpayers must secure...

AMT, income data outlined in bulletin.(TAX RETURNS)(alternative minimum tax)(Statistics of Income Bulletin)
January 1, 2008... At press time, Congress was scrambling to pass legislation that would increase the exemption amount for the alternative minimum tax (AMT) and, as a result, prevent 23 million families from facing a hike in their 2007 tax bill. Despite yearly...

Understanding generation-skipping transfer tax.(FAMILY TAX PLANNING)
January 1, 2008... Estate and gift tax planning presents several options, including the use of generation-skipping transfers, for transferring assets during life and upon death. Generation-skipping transfers allow a taxpayer to transfer assets while providing...

Estate planning benefits of gifts of options.(FAMILY TAX PLANNING)(transfer of taxes)
January 1, 2008... While it is not clear what will become of the estate tax in coming years, it is reasonable to expect that we will continue to have a higher exclusion amount than the current $2 million. For those who may be subject to the estate tax, lifetime...

Home office deduction nixed.(BUSINESS DEDUCTIONS)(Lucien Joseph Larvadain of National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration )(Case overview)
January 1, 2008... Taxpayers who use a home office claim certain deductions, but only if the home office is used exclusively and regularly as the taxpayer's principal place of business. NEW CASE * The IRS disallowed certain deductions claimed by an...

IRS releases filing, deposit deadlines.(TAX PROCEDURES)(United States. Internal Revenue Service)
January 1, 2008... Each year, the IRS releases a schedule of federal tax filing and deposit deadlines for the coming calendar year. The schedule for the first half of 2008 can be found on the next four pages. The dates listed reflect adjustments for federal legal...

Federal tax action calendar for January-June 2008.(Calendar)
January 1, 2008... JANUARY Tuesday, January 1 Earned income credit. Stop advance payments of the earned income credit for any employee who has not given you a new Form W-5 for 2008. Friday, January 4 FICA and withheld income tax. Semiweekly...

Federal legal holidays in 2008.(Brief article)(Calendar)
January 1, 2008... Tuesday, January 1--New Year's Day Monday, January 21--Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday Monday, February 18--Washington's Birthday Wednesday, April 16--District of Columbia Emancipation Day Monday, May 26--Memorial Day ...

2008 standard mileage rates released.(Executive's Briefcase)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... New optional standard mileage rates for calculating the deductible costs of operating a motor vehicle for business, charitable reasons or medical or moving purposes were recently issued by the IRS in Rev. Proc. 2007-70, IRB 2007-50 (Dec. 10,...

Online retirement calculators remove guess-work.(Executive's Briefcase)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... If you're struggling to determine how much you need to save for retirement or how much income your savings will generate upon your retirement, then you might be interested in a free suite of online calculators offered by Bankrate, Inc. ...

Hybrid cars, alternative fuel vehicles qualify for credit.(Executive's Briefcase)(hybrid vehicle tax credit)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Several hybrid vehicles manufactured by Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. have been certified for the hybrid vehicle tax credit, the IRS recently announced. Taxpayers who purchased one of the following model year 2008 hybrids from April 1,...

Phase-out starts January 1 for Honda hybrids.(Executive's Briefcase)(American Honda Motor Company, Inc.,)(alternative motor vehicle credit)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Taxpayers have until the end of 2008 to purchase a Honda hybrid vehicle and still qualify for the alternative motor vehicle credit. That's because American Honda Motor Company, Inc., has sold at least 60,000 qualified hybrids to retail dealers....

Does birth order determine entrepreneurial success?(Executive's Briefcase)(Entrepreneurs are made, they are not born)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Studies on the relationship between birth order and achievement have reached varying conclusions. A recent SurePayroll (www.surepayroll.com) survey of small business owners found that birth order has no significant impact on creating...

Bill would restore CPAs' role as taxpayers' advocates.(Executive's Briefcase)(Certified public accountants)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... The U.S. House of Representatives is considering a bill, H.R. 4318, that would restore the traditional client relationship for CPAs who help prepare federal tax returns for companies and individuals, according to the American Institute of...

Effective communication strategy impacts bottom line.(Executive's Briefcase)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Companies with the most effective communication programs had a 47 percent higher total return to shareholders from 2002 to 2006, when compared with companies that had less effective communication, according to the 2007/2008 Communication ROI...

Privacy breaches increase liability.(MANAGING YOUR BUSINESS)
January 1, 2008... Privacy and security professionals spend the majority of their privacy-focused time on incident response--with only seven percent of their time allocated to employee training and up to 10 percent spent establishing an incident response team,...