November 20th, 2007
rent a car bulgariaTLB has issued a year-end tax letter for individuals covering recent changes in tax rules and regulations and covering simple strategies for minimizing your 2007 tax obligation.
Posted in Individual tax matters | No Comments »
November 18th, 2007
The IRS has issued final regulations (T.D. 9356) on employment and excise taxes for disregarded entities, including single member LLC’s, and Qualified Subchapter S Subsidiaries (QSUB’s). These final regulations provide that a disregarded entity is treated as a separate entity (a corporation) for purposes of employment taxes and the related reporting requirements. The new regulations were effective August 16, 2007 and are applicable to wages paid on or after January 1, 2009. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business taxation, Individual tax matters | No Comments »
October 12th, 2007
When choosing the type entity to operate your business there are several legal and financial aspects to consider. These considerations vary, and carry different weight, depending upon each set of facts and circumstances. However, if you operate your business entity as a corporation - TLB recommends you recheck your reasons for not making the so-called “S” election. Some of the reasons why the S-election is advantageous are as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business taxation, Choice of Entity, Corporate taxation | No Comments »
September 25th, 2007
Real estate agents, developers and investors must be careful in how they report income from the sale of subdivided real property. Many taxpayers and preparers assume the sale of real estate is eligible for capital gains treatment (capital gains are currently taxed at 15% for federal purposes) as opposed to ordinary income (current maximum federal rate of 35%). Needless to say an IRS adjustment relating to these issues and the addition of penalties and interest oftentimes results in a large liability that perhaps could have been minimized or avoided with proper planning. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Individual tax matters, Real Estate | No Comments »
August 17th, 2007
The case of Hospital Corp. of America v. Commissioner of Revenue established the right of taxpayers to utilize cost segregation studies for computing depreciation and provides guidance in identifying tangible personal property in a building, which is eligible for accelerated methods of depreciation over fewer years as compared to the traditional 27.5 year recovery period for residential rental property and the 39.5 year recovery period for commercial real estate. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business taxation, Real Estate, Tax Cases | No Comments »
June 18th, 2007
Sorry lottery fans – except for the fact that you just hit the big one – you just can’t win, at least not with the IRS. As you probably know if you ever do hit the big one and win $100 million – you don’t always actually receive $100 million. Instead, you receive an annual annuity from the lottery commission, which I might add isn’t chump change, but after paying for taxes, lawyers, investment management, not to mention the new house, new spouse and an Escalade (I would get a Bentley – it holds its value better), a couple million a year just doesn’t go as far as it used to. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Individual tax matters, Tax Cases | No Comments »
June 15th, 2007
The IRS announced in a June 6, 2007 news release that it is undertaking a National Research Project with a goal of designing, and implementing a successful strategy to collect data that will be used to measure payment, filing and tax law compliance. In undertaking this project, the IRS is attempting to take advantage of the auditing capacity created by undertaking a National Research Project on approximately 5,000 S-Corporations, which will be concluding. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in General tax matters | No Comments »
June 1st, 2007
Obviously, if a taxpayer can recover the cost of acquiring an asset sooner rather then later, it is to her benefit. There are several instances I can think of where the life of an asset is not defined or particularly clear in the tax code. Well in the case of Trentadue v. Comissioner (128T.C. No. 8 – 4/3/2007), the Tax Court provides us with some guidance as these issues relate to the classification and depreciable life of wine grape trellises, irrigation systems, and a well used in the taxpayers’ wine production activity. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business taxation, Tax Cases | No Comments »
May 25th, 2007
The Chief Counsel’s Office of the IRS advised what costs are subject to capitalization under §263A in connection with growing grapes for wine production. (See CCA 200713023) The taxpayer which operates vineyards that produce wine grapes and a winery, uses an overall accrual method of accounting, treating the grape-growing and wine-making activities as a single trade or business. Most or all of the harvested grapes are sent to the taxpayers winery to be crushed to produce juice that will be processed into wine. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business taxation, Start-ups | No Comments »
May 12th, 2007
Here is a common scenario: A shareholder of a corporation rents property to his corporation, in which he materially participates (maybe a builder, landscaper, consultant, etc.), and earns a profit on the rental activity. In addition, the shareholder also owns other rental property that is reporting a loss for tax purposes. In several cases we have seen the taxpayer utilize the losses of one property to offset the gain from the other property. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business taxation, Real Estate, Tax Cases | No Comments »