Starting May 1, 2016, the IRS will utilize a new exam process in its Large Business and International (LB&I) Division. The exam process is the outgrowth of a multi-year review and revamp of the division’s approach to issue-focused examinations. At the same time, a new analysis by a public interest group reports a decline in overall business audits. (more…)
The Obama administration continued to take action to combat corporate inversions by issuing two sets of regulations that target inversions and earnings stripping. An inversion results in a U.S. parent corporation of a multinational group being replaced by a foreign parent corporation. The government previously issued guidance in 2014 and 2015 on inversions. At the same time, the government said that Congress needs to enact legislation as part of a more comprehensive strategy on inversions. (more…)
The IRS announced that taxpayers now have the option to pay their income taxes in cash. The IRS has partnered with ACI Worldwide’s OfficialPayments.com and the PayNearMe Company to allow individuals to make cash payments at participating 7-Eleven stores. This option provides a new way for people who can only pay their taxes in cash without having to travel to an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center. (more…)
The IRS has updated Form 8850, Pre-Screening Notice and Certification Request for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), and its Instructions, to reflect the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act). An employer must obtain certification that an individual is a member of a targeted group before the employer may claim the WOTC, the IRS explained. The WOTC rewards employers who hire individuals from certain targeted groups with a tax credit. Employers use Form 8850 to pre-screen and to make a written request to a designated local agency to certify an individual as a member of a targeted group. (more…)
The IRS has released the inflation-adjusted limitations on depreciation deductions for business-use passenger automobiles, light trucks, and vans first placed in service during calendar year 2016. Where bonus depreciation is allowed, the first-year depreciation limit is $8,000 higher than the general non-bonus depreciation limits. (more…)
The IRS has issued the maximum fair market value (FMV) amounts that trigger certain valuation rule for employers calculating fringe benefit income from employer-provided automobiles, trucks, and vans first made available for personal use in 2016 (Notice 2016-12). (more…)
Social media has helped to make our world smaller and when natural disasters and tragedies occur we want to help with contributions of money and/or other types of aid. At home, countless charitable organizations are providing all types of help and generally, your contributions to U.S. charities are tax-deductible. Contributions to foreign charities generally are not tax-deductible; however, special rules apply to charitable organizations in Canada, Israel and Mexico. (more…)
Individual taxpayers may claim a nonrefundable personal tax credit for qualified residential alternative energy expenditures. The residential alternative energy credit generally is equal to 30 percent of the cost of eligible solar water heaters, solar electricity equipment, fuel cell plants, small wind energy property, and geothermal heat pump property. (more…)
The IRS has issued its annual Data Book for fiscal year (FY) 2015, which provides statistical information on activities such as examinations and collections conducted by the IRS from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015. For FY 2015, the Data Book shows the total number of audits conducted by the IRS was 1.37 million, down from the 1.38 million examined in FY 2014. (more…)
Passage of the “Tax Extenders” undeniably provided one of the major headlines – and tax benefits – to come out of the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act), signed into law on December 18, 2015. Although these tax extenders (over 50 of them in all) were largely made retroactive to January 1, 2015, valuable enhancements to some of these tax benefits were not made retroactive. Rather, these enhancements were made effective only starting January 1, 2016. (more…)
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