Two articles recently published in the Wall Street Journal demonstrate that current Swiss offshore collection tactics are working to bring Swiss banks and American account holders into U.S. tax compliance. The latest bank to feel the heat of enforcement efforts is the Julius Baer Group, the largest private bank in Switzerland.  Julius Baer, hoping to avoid U.S. indictment, is already preparing to incur stiff fines from U.S. authorities for hiding
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College can be costly. Fortunately there is help in the form of tax relief for many students. As the economy struggles, and unemployment hovers around 9%, many people are turning to school as a chance to improve skills to get the jobs that are available. Laura Saunders of the Wall Street Journal offers great advice to students, young and old, who are in need of serious tax relief in her
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U.S Tax Court is keeping tabs on every possible tax detail in the hopes to find some extra revenue and tax loopholes are being sought out to try to find funding to fill in the budget deficit. Not free from the examination are clergy members and the tax relief laws that protect them from paying taxes. Back in March the U.S. Tax Court made a surprising ruling to extend a
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The Joint Tax Committee recently released their list of Estimates of Federal Tax Expenditures for Fiscal Years 2009-2013. The Joint Committee on Taxation is a nonpartisan committee of the United States Congress who assists Members of the majority and minority parties in both houses of Congress on tax legislation (see the website here). In Congress tax expenditures are what we like to call tax breaks or deductions;  the tax rules
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Effective immediately the IRS will be allowing tax relief to the innocent spouses of those with serious IRS tax problems and back taxes. The new rules will help protect partners, especially those from abusive relationships, by granting relief to those who could have been deemed liable for a spouse’s tax problems. The Wall Street Journal’s Laura Saunders explains how the new rules differ from the original rule of a 2
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An exchange-traded fund is an investment fund traded on stock exchanges, much like stocks.  An ETF holds assets such as stocks, commodities, or bonds, and trades close to its net asset value over the course of the trading day (Wikipedia).  ETF’s are becoming a more popular form of investing, but the structures of the funds can be taxed very differently from your normal run-of-the-mill mutual funds. Laura Saunders and Jason
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Last year Congress made some new decisions about the amount of business deductions that can be made on your car purchased after Sept. 8, 2010, and before Jan. 1, 2012. If you are like most business owners, you want to tap into these tax breaks when you can.  Laura Saunders of the Wall Street Journal highlights some great tax relief tips (new and old) you need to know about deductions
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Tom Herman of the Wall Street Journal posted a great tax relief tip article, Renting Out Home? Watch for 14-Day Rule, that includes tax tips to consider when renting out your home for the summer.  Herman notes that under IRS rules you can rent out your home for up to 14 days in a year without being subject to Federal income tax. If you go over the 14 day rental
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The IRS announced its new standards for mileage rates for the second half of the 2011 year. Starting July 1 the new rates will take effect.  The Wall Street Journal reports that after the first “the rate for business miles increases to 55.5 cents from 51 cents and to 23.5 cents from 19 cents per mile for medical and moving expenses. The per-mile deduction for charitable expenses remains unchanged, at
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Many people spend a lot of time, effort and money into preparing accurate yearly income tax returns, even if a professional is giving tax help.  The process is often complicated and accuracy is important. With that combination of factors errors can become common and the IRS wants to see those errors fixed in a timely fashion. The Wall Street Journal Article titled If You Goofed on Your Taxes, Fix It.
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Jan Van Dusen, a volunteer for a cat rescue program, recently went to battle with Tax Court to deduct expenses for the care of some 70 plus cats. The article Stray Cat Strut: Woman Beats IRS published in the Wall Street Journal outlines how Ms. Van Dusen won her case against the tax court in her argument for the deduction for over $12,000 in bills accumulated for the care of
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Charitable donations are a great way for individuals to help out meaningful causes and to also gain a little tax relief when it comes time to cut the check to the IRS.  A new article, One Easy Way to Lose that Charitable Deduction by the Wall Street Journal, highlights the importance of getting the proper documentation for every charitable donation you make over $250 dollars. Without the recognized “letter” from
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Small businesses can’t afford to fall behind on taxes.  In tough times, it’s more common for small businesses to do so, but the timing to fall behind on taxes is worse now than ever before.  The IRS is hitting small businesses hard – resulting in levies, inability to get loans and more.  In The Wall Street Journal, reporter Marshall Eckblad’s article, “Firms Squeezed on Tax Bills” explains.
According to the article:
“The
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Summer is here and with it comes the summer jobs for teenagers and young adults often on break from school.  In a recent article by Lara Saunders for the Wall Street Journal titled The Real World:Tax Tips for Summer Workers tax tips and traps are outlined for parents and young people with summer jobs. Here are a few of the important highlights directly from the article:
• Know your status. Young
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There was a recent article on Wall Street Journal’s Smart Money site on May 13th on How to File Foreign Bank Reports.  I am happy to see large-profile publishers like WSJ and Smart Money talking about this because offshore account disclosure is a must for consumers.  Hiding funds in offshore accounts without declaring can result in criminal prosecution, and/or IRS penalties.
If you have funds that have not been declared and
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