Insights

On January 1, 2013, by a vote of 89-8, the Senate passed H.R. 8, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Congress then passed the Act by a vote of 257-167 in order to avoid the fiscal cliff. On January 2, President Obama signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the Act) into law,…

The Internal Revenue Service is now using information statements to look for under-reporting on business returns. This year, business taxpayers received the new Form 1099-K, Merchant Card and Third-Party Network Payments, to report amounts from debit/credit cards and third-party payers, such as PayPal. As of November, the IRS has started to use information obtained from…

On the November 2012 Ballot, 55.3% of Californians voted YES on California Proposition 30. It is estimated that Prop. 30 will raise on average an additional $6 billion in annual state revenues to provide additional funding for California’s education system. Prop. 30 will increase personal income tax retroactively starting January 1, 2012. Individuals in the…

As 2012 is coming to a close, now is an ideal time to start preparing for all the available opportunities to reduce your tax burden. With the level of uncertainty looming over what 2013 will bring, planning is all the more important as you and your advisors strategize on the best approach. This article will…

In recent years, estate planning has been complicated by uncertainty over the future of the federal gift and estate tax regime. However, even when estate tax rates and exemption amounts are predictable, changing family circumstances make planning a challenge. Fortunately, there are several postmortem strategies a family can use to ensure that the deceased’s wishes…

Financial statements provide a wealth of financial information about a nonprofit organization’s most recent month, quarter or year end. In addition, they also include valuable information to assist in making business decisions and to plan for the organization’s future. This article discusses the purpose and components of different financial statements and how the information can…

The Tax Court recently ruled that a married couple’s significant amount of charitable contributions were not tax deductible because the written acknowledgment provided by their church did not meet the substantial requirements. Supported by Code Sec. 170(f)(8), the Tax Court requires that all charitable donations be supported with a contemporaneous written acknowledgment that states goods…

The recent Supreme Court ruling on the healthcare law upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. While some elements of the bill have already gone into effect, higher income taxpayers need to be mindful of the 3.8% tax on net investment income effective January 1, 2013. Luckily, there are some beneficial strategies…

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has ramped up its efforts in recent years by expanding its audits of the wealthiest individuals. Particularly over the last five years, the IRS audit rates increased on average 10% and the percentage of audits for those with income over $1,000,000 nearly doubled. In 2009, the IRS established a specialized…

In an effort to clarify the general ambiguity that looms over pension plans and fees paid by retirement plan participants, the Department of Labor (DOL) updated two regulations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The updates to “plan level” disclosure rules (Section 408(b)(2) rules) and “participant level” fee disclosure rules (Section 404(a)(5) rules),…