Category Archives: IRS

When Income Isn’t: The Murphy Decision

Yesterday, the D.C. Circuit ruled that §104(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26, U.S.C.) is “…unconstitutional insofar as it permits the taxation of an award of damages for mental distress and loss of reputation.” This is a monumental decision … Continue reading

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New Pension Law Changes Charitable Donations Rule

The new Pension Law, which will be signed into law by President Bush next week, will impact areas that have nothing to do with pensions. Joe Kristan at Roth Tax Updates writes how you will need to have a receipt … Continue reading

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IRS Digital Fraud Detection System Out of Order

The IRS acknowledged that the system they use to detect digital fraud was not updated before the 2006 tax year. This failure may have led to $300 million being paid in bogus tax returns. The “Electronic Fraud Detection System,” or … Continue reading

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IRS Fresno Wrongly Denied Extensions

According to the Fresno IRS Service Center, around 40,000 to 50,000 extensions filed using Form 4868 were wrongly denied at the Fresno IRS campus. Most of the forms were transmitted in bulk via paid preparers. The IRS is now notifying … Continue reading

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What In the World Does the IMF Have to Do with Taxes?

No, I’m not talking about the Impossible Missions Force. I’m speaking about…well, to be honest, a lot of nothing. But several charlatans have been promoting an “IMF Decoding Service.” Indeed, if you do a search on Google or some other … Continue reading

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The IRS Give Single Member S Corps a Lump of Coal

The IRS announced today a “clarification” of the rules for self-employed health insurance deductions for S Corporations. This is bad news overall, and especially bad news for California S Corporations. The self-employed health insurance deduction allows sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs … Continue reading

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The Spanish-American War Officially Ends!

And you thought that the Treaty of Paris (signed on December 10, 1898) ended the Spanish-American War. No! It ended today, May 25, 2006, when the Department of the Treasury announced that they will no longer fight for enforcement of … Continue reading

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The 2% Solution

Today the Tax Court looked at an ambiguous section of the Tax Code. Suppose an S Corporation is owed a refund, with interest. What interest rate should be used? The general “corporate overpayment” rate, the “large corporation” overpayment rate, or … Continue reading

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How Big Is the Tax Gap?

The “Tax Gap” is difference between the amount of tax that the IRS should collect if everyone followed the law and the amount that it actually collects. There are three components of the gap: nonfiling, under-reporting, and underpayment. Of course, … Continue reading

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T-Day

Today is the deadline. You have until midnight tonight to file your taxes. The question were asked every year (usually around 9pm) is, “We just realized that we need to file our taxes…What do we do?” The answer is to … Continue reading

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