The following is a summary of the most important tax developments that have occurred in the past three months that may affect you, your family, your investments, and your livelihood. Please call us for more information about any of these developments and what steps you should implement to take advantage of favorable developments and to minimize the impact of those that are unfavorable.

Payroll tax cut temporarily extended. The Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 was enacted late last year. It temporarily extends the two percentage point payroll tax cut for employees, continuing the reduction of their Social Security tax withholding rate from 6.2% to 4.2% of wages paid through Feb. 29, 2012. Shortly after its passage, the IRS instructed employers to implement the new payroll tax rate as soon as possible in 2012 but not later than Jan. 31, 2012. The law also includes a “recapture” provision, which applies only to those employees who receive more than $18,350 in wages during the two-month period (i.e., two-twelfths of the 2012 wage base of $110,100). This provision imposes an additional income tax on these higher-income employees in an amount equal to 2% of the amount of wages they receive during the two-month period in excess of $18,350 (and not greater than $110,100). In addition, under the new law, the social security tax rate for a self-employed individual remains at 10.4%, for self-employment income of up to $18,350 (reduced by wages subject to the lower rate for 2012). Congress is going to try to negotiate a deal to extend the payroll tax cut for all of 2012. If a deal is struck to extend it for the full year, the recapture provision for employees would not apply.

Credit for hiring veterans extended and enhanced. A law enacted last November extended and enhanced a credit for hiring qualified veterans. Before the law was passed, the credit would have been available only if the qualified veteran were hired before Jan. 1, 2012, and only certain veterans were considered qualified veterans. The new law extends the credit for hiring qualified veterans, adds two new classes of veterans who are considered qualified veterans, increases the credit for hiring certain qualified veterans, fast-tracks” the process for certifying that an individual is a qualified veteran, and provides tax-exempt employers with a credit against payroll tax for hiring qualified veterans. The credit amount varies depending on a number of factors. It can be as high as $9,600 for hiring a qualified disabled veteran. For an employer to qualify for the credit, the qualified veteran must begin work for the employer before Jan. 1, 2013 and other requirements must be met.

New rules for deducting or capitalizing tangible property costs. The IRS has issued new regulations for determining whether amounts paid to acquire, produce, or improve tangible property may be currently deducted as business expenses or must be capitalized. The regulations will affect virtually all taxpayers that acquire, produce, or improve tangible property. They are comprehensive, voluminous and virtually rewrite the rules in this area. For example, they provide detailed definitions of “materials and supplies” and “rotable and temporary spare parts” and prescribe new rules and elective de minimis and optional methods for handling their cost. They also have rules for differentiating between deductible repairs and capitalizable improvements, among many other items. The regulations generally are effective in tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2011. However, to add to their complexity, some of the new rules in the regulations do not supersede prior IRS guidance.

New foreign asset reporting guidance and form. The IRS issued detailed guidance on the new law requiring individuals with an interest in a “specified foreign financial asset” during the tax year to attach a disclosure statement to their income tax return for any year in which the aggregate value of all such assets is greater than $50,000 (or a dollar amount higher than $50,000 as the IRS may prescribe). In addition, the IRS issued Form 8938 (Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets), which individual taxpayers will use starting in the 2012 tax filing season to report specified foreign financial assets for tax year 2011. The guidance consists of detailed temporary regulations. They define terms that apply for purposes of the reporting requirement; provide rules to determine if a specified individual must file a Form 8938 with their annual return; define what are specified foreign financial assets; detail what information needs to be reported; provide guidelines for valuing specified foreign financial assets; list exceptions to the reporting requirements; and describe the penalties that apply for failure to comply with the reporting requirements.

Standard mileage rates flat or lower. The optional mileage allowance for owned or leased autos (including vans, pickups or panel trucks) is 55.5 cents per each business mile traveled after 2011. For 2011, it was 55.5 cents for miles driven after June 30 and 51 cents per mile for miles driven before July 1. Further, the 2012 rate for using a car to get medical care or in connection with a move that qualifies for the moving expense deduction is 23 cents per mile. For 2011, it was 23.5 cents for miles driven after June 30 and 19 cents per mile for miles driven before July 1.

New Form 8949 replaces Form 1040, Schedule D-1. Many transactions that, in previous years, would have been reported on Form 1040, Schedule D or D-1 must be reported on Form 8949 if they occurred in 2011. Specifically, a taxpayer uses Form 8949 to report:

• The sale or exchange of a capital asset not reported on another form or schedule,
• Gains from involuntary conversions (other than from casualty or theft) of capital assets not held for business or profit, and
• Non-business bad debts.

The taxpayer uses Schedule D to figure the overall gain or loss from transactions reported on Form 8949 and to report capital gain distributions not reported directly on Form 1040, line 13, a capital loss carryover from 2010 to 2011, and certain specialized items.

Withholding requirement for government contractors repealed. A law enacted in 2005 was to have required the Federal government and the government of every state, political subdivision of a state, and instrumentality of a state or state subdivision (including multi-state agencies) making certain payments to a person providing any property or services (e.g., payments to a government contractor) to deduct and withhold 3% from that payment. Although the withholding requirement was originally set to apply to payments made after 2010, it was subsequently deferred to apply to payments made after 2012. A law enacted in November 2011 repealed the government contractor withholding requirement.

As always we will keep you updated on any future tax law changes. If you have any questions on how the above changes might impact you, please don’t hesitate to call us or we can discuss it at your annual tax appointment.

Thank you for your continued support.
Roy A. Lewis, E.A. and Joe W. Schiefer, E.A.

Reproduced with permission Checkpoint contents/Federal Library/Federal Editorial Materials/Tax Planning & Practice Guides (Special Studies) by Thomson Reuters/RIA ~ www.thomsonreuters.com

Regardless of what Congress does late this year or early the next, there are solid tax savings to be realized by taking advantage of tax breaks that are on the books for 2011 but may be gone next year unless they are extended by Congress. These include, for individuals: the option to deduct state and local sales and use taxes instead of state and local income taxes; the above-the-line deduction for qualified higher education expenses; and tax-free distributions by those age 70 1/2 or older from IRAs for charitable purposes.

For businesses, tax breaks that are available through the end of this year but won’t be around next year unless Congress acts include: 100% bonus first year depreciation for most new machinery, equipment and software; an extraordinarily high $500,000 expensing limitation (and within that dollar limit, $250,000 of expensing for qualified real property); and the research tax credit.

We have compiled a checklist of actions based on current tax rules that may help you save tax dollars if you act before year-end. Not all actions will apply in your particular situation, but you will likely benefit from many of them. We can narrow down the specific actions that you can take once we meet with you to tailor a particular plan. In the meantime, please review the following list and contact us at your earliest convenience so that we can advise you on which tax-saving moves to make:

Year-End Tax Planning Moves for Individuals

• Increase the amount you set aside for next year in your employer’s health flexible spending account (FSA) if you set aside too little for this year. Don’t forget that you can no longer set aside amounts to get tax-free reimbursements for over-the-counter drugs, such as aspirin and antacids.
• If you become eligible to make health savings account (HSA) contributions in December of this year, you can make a full year’s worth of deductible HSA contributions for 2011.
• Realize losses on stock while substantially preserving your investment position. There are several ways this can be done. For example, you can sell the original holding, then buy back the same securities at least 31 days later. It may be advisable for us to meet to discuss year-end trades you should consider making.
• Postpone income until 2012 and accelerate deductions into 2011 to lower your 2011 tax bill. This strategy may enable you to claim larger deductions, credits, and other tax breaks for 2011 that are phased out over varying levels of adjusted gross income (AGI). These include child tax credits, higher education tax credits, the above-the-line deduction for higher-education expenses, and deductions for student loan interest. Postponing income also is desirable for those taxpayers who anticipate being in a lower tax bracket next year due to changed financial circumstances. Note, however, that in some cases, it may pay to actually accelerate income into 2011. For example, this may be the case where a person’s marginal tax rate is much lower this year than it will be next year.
• If you believe a Roth IRA is better than a traditional IRA, and want to remain in the market for the long term, consider converting traditional-IRA money invested in beaten-down stocks (or mutual funds) into a Roth IRA if eligible to do so. Keep in mind, however, that such a conversion will increase your adjusted gross income for 2011.
• If you converted assets in a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA earlier in the year, the assets in the Roth IRA account may have declined in value, and if you leave things as-is, you will wind up paying a higher tax than is necessary. You can back out of the transaction by recharacterizing the rollover or conversion, that is, by transferring the converted amount (plus earnings, or minus losses) from the Roth IRA back to a traditional IRA via a trustee-to-trustee transfer. You can later reconvert to a Roth IRA.
• It may be advantageous to try to arrange with your employer to defer a bonus that may be coming your way until 2012.
  oConsider using a credit card to prepay expenses that can generate deductions for this year.

• If you expect to owe state and local income taxes when you file your return next year, consider asking your employer to increase withholding of state and local taxes (or pay estimated tax payments of state and local taxes) before year-end to pull the deduction of those taxes into 2011 if doing so won’t create an alternative minimum tax (AMT) problem.
• Take an eligible rollover distribution from a qualified retirement plan before the end of 2011 if you are facing a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax and the increased withholding option is unavailable or won’t sufficiently address the problem. Income tax will be withheld from the distribution and will be applied toward the taxes owed for 2011. You can then timely roll over the gross amount of the distribution, as increased by the amount of withheld tax, to a traditional IRA. No part of the distribution will be includible in income for 2011, but the withheld tax will be applied pro rata over the full 2011 tax year to reduce previous underpayments of estimated tax.
• Estimate the effect of any year-end planning moves on the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for 2011, keeping in mind that many tax breaks allowed for purposes of calculating regular taxes are disallowed for AMT purposes. These include the deduction for state property taxes on your residence, state income taxes (or state sales tax if you elect this deduction option), miscellaneous itemized deductions, and personal exemption deductions. Other deductions, such as for medical expenses, are calculated in a more restrictive way for AMT purposes than for regular tax purposes. As a result, in some cases, deductions should not be accelerated.
• Accelerate big ticket purchases into 2011 in order to assure a deduction for sales taxes on the purchases if you will elect to claim a state and local general sales tax deduction instead of a state and local income tax deduction. Unless Congress acts, this election won’t be available after 2011.
• You may be able to save taxes this year and next by applying a bunching strategy to “miscellaneous” itemized deductions, medical expenses and other itemized deductions.
• If you are a homeowner, make energy saving improvements to the residence, such as putting in extra insulation or installing energy saving windows, or an energy efficient heater or air conditioner. You may qualify for a tax credit if the assets are installed in your home before 2012.
• Unless Congress extends it, the up-to-$4,000 above-the-line deduction for qualified higher education expenses will not be available after 2011. Thus, consider prepaying eligible expenses if doing so will increase your deduction for qualified higher education expenses. Generally, the deduction is allowed for qualified education expenses paid in 2011 in connection with enrollment at an institution of higher education during 2011 or for an academic period beginning in 2011 or in the first 3 months of 2012.
• You may want to pay contested taxes to be able to deduct them this year while continuing to contest them next year.
• You may want to settle an insurance or damage claim in order to maximize your casualty loss deduction this year.
  Purchase qualified small business stock (QSBS) before the end of this year. There is no tax on gain from the sale of such stock if it is (1) purchased after September 27, 2010 and before January 1, 2012, and (2) held for more than five years. In addition, such sales won’t cause AMT preference problems. To qualify for these breaks, the stock must be issued by a regular (C) corporation with total gross assets of $50 million or less, and a number of other technical requirements must be met. Our office can fill you in on the details.

• If you are age 70-1/2 or older, own IRAs and are thinking of making a charitable gift, consider arranging for the gift to be made directly by the IRA trustee. Such a transfer, if made before year-end, can achieve important tax savings.
  o Take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from your IRA or 401(k) plan (or other employer-sponsored retired plan) if you have reached age 70-½. Failure to take a required withdrawal can result in a penalty of 50% of the amount of the RMD not withdrawn. If you turned age 70-1/2 in 2011, you can delay the first required distribution to 2012, but if you do, you will have to take a double distribution in 2012-the amount required for 2011 plus the amount required for 2012. Think twice before delaying 2011 distributions to 2012-bunching income into 2012 might push you into a higher tax bracket or have a detrimental impact on various income tax deductions that are reduced at higher income levels. However, it could be beneficial to take both distributions in 2012 if you will be in a substantially lower bracket that year, for example, because you plan to retire late this year.

• Make gifts sheltered by the annual gift tax exclusion before the end of the year and thereby save gift and estate taxes. You can give $13,000 in 2011 to each of an unlimited number of individuals but you can’t carry over unused exclusions from one year to the next. The transfers also may save family income taxes where income-earning property is given to family members in lower income tax brackets who are not subject to the kiddie tax.

Year-End Tax-Planning Moves for Businesses & Business Owners

• Businesses should consider making expenditures that qualify for the business property expensing option. For tax years beginning in 2011, the expensing limit is $500,000 and the investment ceiling limit is $2,000,000. And a limited amount of expensing may be claimed for qualified real property. However, unless Congress changes the rules, for tax years beginning in 2012, the dollar limit will drop to $139,000, the beginning-of-phase out amount will drop to $560,000, and expensing won’t be available for qualified real property. The generous dollar ceilings that apply this year mean that many small and medium sized businesses that make timely purchases will be able to currently deduct most if not all their outlays for machinery and equipment. What’s more, the expensing deduction is not prorated for the time that the asset is in service during the year. This opens up significant year-end planning opportunities.
  oBusinesses also should consider making expenditures that qualify for 100% bonus first year depreciation if bought and placed in service this year. This 100% first-year write off generally won’t be available next year unless Congress acts to extend it. Thus, enterprises planning to purchase new depreciable property this year or the next should try to accelerate their buying plans, if doing so makes sound business sense.

• Nail down a work opportunity tax credit (WOTC) by hiring qualifying workers (such as certain veterans) before the end of 2011. Under current law, the WOTC won’t be available for workers hired after this year.
• Make qualified research expenses before the end of 2011 to claim a research credit, which won’t be available for post-2011 expenditures unless Congress extends the credit.
• If you are self-employed and haven’t done so yet, set up a self-employed retirement plan.
• Depending on your particular situation, you may also want to consider deferring a debt-cancellation event until 2012, and disposing of a passive activity to allow you to deduct suspended losses.
• If you own an interest in a partnership or S corporation you may need to increase your basis in the entity so you can deduct a loss from it for this year.

These are just some of the year-end steps that can be taken to save taxes. Again, by contacting us, we can tailor a particular plan that will work best for you.

Thank you for your continued support.
Roy A. Lewis, E.A. and Joe W. Schiefer, E.A.

Reproduced with permission Checkpoint contents/Federal Library/Federal Editorial Materials/Tax Planning & Practice Guides (Special Studies) by Thomson Reuters/RIA ~ www.thomsonreuters.com

Dear Clients and Friends:

Taxpayers got some good news in April 2011 when Congress passed, and President Obama, signed legislation to repeal expanded information reporting requirements. The Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-9) repealed expanded business information reporting requirements previously scheduled to take affect for payments made after December 31, 2011 and also repealed rental property expense reporting which was effective for payments made after December 31, 2010.

The two (now repealed) information reporting requirements were enacted by Congress in 2010. Both were intended to boost tax revenues. Research has shown that taxpayers are more likely to report their tax liabilities when they know that the same information has been provided to the IRS by a third party.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) generally required all businesses, charities and state and local governments to file an information return (Form 1099) when they made annual purchases aggregating $600 or more to a single vendor, other than a tax-exempt vendor, for payments made after December 31, 2011. The PPACA also repealed the longstanding reporting exception for payments to a corporation. The IRS was planning to issue regulations on the expanded business information reporting requirements but repeal of them makes the regulations unnecessary.

The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 required information reporting by landlords on certain rental property expense payments of $600 or more in conjunction with their rental properties made after December 31, 2010. The types of expenses contemplated by the 2010 Small Business Jobs Act were, for example, payments to craftspersons, such as electricians and roofers. Payments for professional services, such as to accountants, also would have been covered by the 2010 Small Business Act. Some landlords, however, were exempt from reporting. They included, but were not limited to, landlords who received only a nominal amount of rental income. The IRS also was planning to issue regulations but repeal of the rental property expense reporting requirement makes the regulations unnecessary.

Both of these provisions generated significant controversy after their enactment. Small businesses, in particular, complained that the requirements would be costly and burdensome. Businesses would have had to develop new systems to capture the required information. In some cases, the law would have required backup withholding.

Initially, it appeared that Congress preferred to reform rather than repeal the new reporting requirements. One proposal would have raised the reporting threshold from $600 to $5,000 and would have excluded some routine payments, such as office supplies, from reporting. Another proposal would have exempted all purchases made with a credit card from the reporting.

By early 2011, momentum had built in Congress for complete repeal of the two reporting requirements. On March 3, 2011, the House approved the 1099 Comprehensive Taxpayer Protection Act. The Senate approved the bill on April 5, 2011 and President Obama signed the bill into law on April 14, 2011. Passage of the bill means that the expanded information reporting requirements under the PPACA are repealed as if they had never been enacted. Likewise, rental property expense reporting under the 2010 Small Business Jobs Act is repealed as if it had never been enacted.

The 1099 Comprehensive Taxpayer Protection Act did not repeal some other new information reporting requirements. In particular, taxpayers need to take notice of three new information reporting requirements that are now in effect after having withstood campaigns to have them repealed since their enactment:

Health insurance benefits. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 requires employers to report to their employees on Form W-2 the cost of employer-provided health insurance. This reporting requirement is optional for all employers in 2011, optional for small-employers only for 2012 and mandatory for all employers starting in 2013.

Broker reporting. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 expands Form 1099-B reporting to include the cost or other basis of stock and mutual fund shares sold or exchanged during the year. This reporting starts in 2011 for most stock acquisitions and in 2012 for most mutual fund transactions. The expanded form will also report whether gain or loss is long-term or short-term.

Payment card reporting. The Housing Tax Assistance Act of 2008 requires the reporting of various payment card transactions starting in 2011. Payment settlement entities are required to report payments made to merchants for goods and services in settlement of payment card and third-party payment network transactions.

Congress and the White House are currently negotiating a deficit reduction plan and a fiscal year (2012) federal budget. The deficit reduction plan and budget are expected to include a mix of revenue raisers and spending cuts. It is unlikely Congress will revive the two information reporting requirements repealed in April 2011 but lawmakers might impose other information reporting requirements. Speaking in Washington, D.C. in April 2011, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman endorsed making more use of information returns to increase taxpayer compliance. Shulman’s remarks may resonate with many members of Congress who are looking for ways to reduce the nation’s budget deficit.

If you have any questions about the 1099 Comprehensive Taxpayer Protection Act or information reporting in general, please contact our office.

Thank you for your continued support.
Roy A. Lewis, E.A. and Joe W. Schiefer, E.A.

Reproduced with permission from CCH’s Client Letter, published and copyrighted by CCH Incorporated, 2700 Lake Cook Road, Riverwoods, IL 60015.

May 20, 2011

Dear Clients and Friends:

During the first quarter of 2011, there were many important federal tax developments. This letter highlights some of the more important federal tax developments for you. As always, please give our office a call or send us an email if you have any questions about these developments.

Federal Taxes
President Obama released his fiscal year (FY) 2012 federal budget recommendations in February. The president proposed to extend the Bush-era income tax rate reductions for all taxpayers except for higher income taxpayers (which the White House defines as individuals with incomes over $200,000 and married couples with incomes over $250,000). The president also proposed, among other things, to make permanent the American Opportunity Tax Credit and extend some popular but temporary individual tax incentives. For businesses, the president proposed, among other things, to make permanent the research tax credit.

Bonus Depreciation
The IRS issued much-anticipated guidance on 100 percent bonus depreciation (enacted by the Tax Relief, Unemployment Reauthorization Extension and Job Creation Act of 2010). The IRS explained the relationship between 100 percent bonus depreciation and 50 percent bonus depreciation (enacted by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010). The IRS also allowed, among other things, businesses to elect to deduct 50 percent bonus depreciation instead of 100 percent bonus depreciation in certain situations.

Information Reporting
Congress passed the Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011 (2011 Taxpayer Protection Act) to repeal expanded information reporting on Form 1099 for certain business payments and rental property expense payments. The provisions had been widely criticized as being unduly burdensome on taxpayers, especially small businesses.

Vehicle Depreciation
The IRS issued limitations on depreciation deductions for owners of passenger cars and trucks and vans first placed in service in calendar year 2011. The IRS also provided revised tables of depreciation limitations for vehicles first placed in service (or first leased by the taxpayer) during 2010 to which bonus depreciation applies.

IRS Liens
The IRS announced new measures to help taxpayers struggling during the economic slowdown. The agency is revising its lien processes, making changes to installment agreements for small businesses, and expanding a streamlined offer in compromise (OIC) program. Among other changes, liens can now be withdrawn immediately once full payment of taxes is made if the taxpayer so requests. The IRS also announced it will increase the dollar thresholds when liens are generally filed. Streamlined installment agreements will be made available to more small businesses.

Innocent Spouse Relief
In January, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a two-year deadline for seeking equitable innocent spouse relief (Mannella, January 19, 2011). The Third Circuit found that the IRS regulations, which set a two-year deadline, are reasonable. However, some courts have found that the IRS regulations are not reasonable. The dispute may one day be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Exempt Organizations
The IRS announced that more small tax-exempt organizations would be eligible to file a simplified annual information return. For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2010, tax-exempt organizations with annual gross receipts of $50,000 or less can file Form 990-N, Electronic Notification e-Postcard. The threshold previously was $25,000 in annual gross receipts.

Health Care Reform
Several federal district courts weighed-in on the constitutionality of health care reform legislation enacted in 2010. A federal district court in Mississippi rejected a constitutional challenge to the legislation (Bryant, DC-Miss., February 2, 2011). However, federal district courts in Florida and Virginia found that the health care reform legislation was unconstitutional (Florida, DC-Fla., January 31, 2011, Sebelius, DC-Va., December 13, 2010). The Third Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to be the first appellate court to rule on the constitutionality of health care reform. The Third Circuit has scheduled a hearing on the Virginia case in May.

These are just some of the many federal tax developments during the first quarter of 2011. Please contact our office if you have any questions about these or any tax developments.

Thank you for your continued support.
Roy A. Lewis, E.A. and Joe W. Schiefer, E.A.

Reproduced with permission from CCH’s Client Letter, published and copyrighted by CCH Incorporated, 2700 Lake Cook Road, Riverwoods, IL 60015.

Even if you can’t make full payment of your liabilities, timely filing your return and making the largest partial payment possible will save you substantial amounts in interest and penalties. Additionally, there are procedures for requesting payment extensions and installment payment arrangements which will keep the IRS from instituting its collection process (liens, property seizures, etc.) against you.

Overview of the most common penalties. The “failure to file” penalty accrues at the rate of 5% per month or part of a month (to a maximum of 25%, reached after five months) on the amount of tax your return should show you owe. The “failure to pay” penalty is gentler, accruing at the rate of only 0.5% per month or part of a month (to a maximum of 25% reached after fifty months) on the amount actually shown as due on the return. If both apply, the failure to file penalty drops to 4.5% per month, so the total combined penalty remains at 5%-thus, the maximum combined penalty for the first five months is 25%. Thereafter, the failure to pay penalty can continue at 0.5% per month for 45 more months, yielding an additional 22.5%. In total, these combined penalties can reach 47.5% of your unpaid liability in less than five years.

Both of these penalties are in addition to interest you will be charged for your late payment. If you also missed estimated tax payments, an additional penalty is tacked on for the period running from each payment’s due date until the tax return due date, normally April 15th. This penalty is computed at 3% above the fluctuating federal short-term interest rate for the period.

Borrowing money to pay taxes. Given the rate at which the above-mentioned penalties and interest accrues, it might be a good idea to borrow money to pay the taxes. In many situations, the rate of interest that you would pay to a family member, or even to a bank, is less overall than that which you would have to pay the IRS.

Loans from relatives or friends are often the simplest method to pay the bill. One advantage of such loans is that the interest rate will probably be low, but you must also consider that loans over $10,000 at below-market interest rates may trigger tax consequences. When loans from individuals are not available, a loan from a bank or other commercial source could be sought, but such loans are not likely to be made on favorable terms to a hard-pressed taxpayer. Moreover, interest on a loan to pay taxes is nondeductible personal interest. In contrast, if you can take out a home equity loan and use the proceeds to pay off your tax debts, you will probably be paying at a lower rate than with other types of loans, and the interest payments will be deductible even if the loan proceeds aren’t used in connection with the house.

Credit cards. It is relatively quick and easy to use credit cards to pay the income tax bill, whether you file your income tax return by mailing a paper copy or by computer. In addition, three companies (Official Payments Corporation at 888-872-9829, Link2Gov Corporation at 888-729-1040, and RBS WorldPay, Inc. at 888-972-9829) are authorized service providers for purposes of accepting credit card charges from both electronic and paper filers. However, credit card loans are likely to be at relatively high interest rates and the interest is not deductible. Moreover, the service providers typically charge an additional fee based on the amount you are paying.

Installment agreement request. If you cannot or prefer not to take out a loan, you might be able to defer your tax payments by requesting that the IRS enter into an installment payment agreement with you. This request is made on Form 9465 or by applying for a payment agreement online. There are various options for making your monthly installment agreement payments, including the direct debit and payroll deduction methods, both of which are made automatically and thus reduce the risk of default.

If you file and request a payment agreement online, there are three available payment options: (1) payment in full within 10 days (which saves on interest and penalties); (2) short-term extension of up to 120 days (for which no fee is charged, but additional penalties and interest accrue); or (3) monthly payment plan (which carries an additional user fee, and interest and penalties continue to accrue on the unpaid balance).

You can also request an installment agreement on Form 9465, which can be filed along with either an e-filed or paper return. Form 9465 requires less information than the hardship extension application (described below). If the liability is under $25,000, you will not be required to submit financial statements. Even if your request to pay in installments is granted, you will be charged interest on any tax not paid by its due date. However, the late payment penalty will be half the usual rate (0.25% instead of 0.5%) if you file your return by the due date (including extensions).

The IRS charges a fee for installment agreements, which will be deducted from your first payment after your request is approved. The fee for entering into an installment agreement is regularly $105, but it is reduced to $52 when the taxpayer pays by way of a direct debit from the taxpayer’s bank account. Notwithstanding the method of payment, the fee is $43 if the taxpayer is a low-income taxpayer-i.e., an individual who falls at or below 250% of the dollar criteria established by the poverty guidelines updated annually in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There is a $45 fee to restructure or reinstate an established installment agreement that applies regardless of income levels or method of payment.

Note that an installment agreement request can be made after the expiration of a hardship extension period (described below). Additionally, the IRS has the authority to enter into an installment agreement calling for less than full payment of the tax liability over the term of the agreement. It may do so if it determines such an agreement will facilitate partial collection of the liability.
The installment agreement may terminate, and all your taxes become due immediately, under certain circumstances (for example, if you stop making payments).

The IRS is required to enter into an installment agreement at your request (a “guaranteed installment agreement”) if the following apply:

• the tax liability is $10,000 or less (not counting interest and penalties);
• within the prior 5 years you have not (i) failed to file returns or pay taxes, or (ii) entered into a previous installment agreement;
• the IRS determines the tax liability cannot be paid in full;
• the installment agreement provides for full payment within 3 years; and
• you agree to comply with the tax laws during the agreement period.

As a matter of policy, the IRS often grants guaranteed installment agreements even if taxpayers are able to fully pay their accounts.

Undue hardship extensions. You may also qualify for an extension of time to pay if you can show that payment would cause “undue hardship.” Form 1127 is used to apply for an undue hardship extension, and you must attach a statement of assets and liabilities as well as an itemized list of receipts and disbursements for the 3 months preceding the tax due date.

If you qualify for an undue hardship extension, you will be given an extra six months to pay the tax shown as due on your tax return. You will avoid the failure to pay penalty, but you will still be charged interest. If the IRS determines a “deficiency,” i.e., that you owe taxes in excess of the amount shown on your return, the undue hardship extension can be as long as 18 months and, in exceptional cases, another 12 months can be tacked on. However, no extension will be granted if the deficiency was the result of negligence, intentional disregard of the tax rules, or fraud.

To establish undue hardship, it is not enough to show that it would just be inconvenient to pay your tax when due. For example, if you would have to sell property at a “sacrifice” price, you may qualify for an undue hardship extension. However, if a market exists, having to sell property at the current market price is not viewed as resulting in an undue hardship.

To qualify for an extension, you would have to: (i) show that you do not have enough cash and assets convertible into cash in excess of current working capital to meet your tax obligations; (ii) show you cannot borrow the amount needed except on terms that would inflict serious loss and hardship; and (iii) provide security for the tax debt. The determination of the kind of security-such as a bond, filing a notice of lien, mortgage, pledge, deed of trust, personal surety, or other form of security-will depend on the particular circumstances involved. However, no collateral is required if you have no assets.

Offer-in-compromise. Another potential way to deal with unpaid taxes is by using an offer-in-compromise, which is a technique that may allow you to settle your tax debt for a fraction of its face value. This option is available only if you have already filed your return but are unable to pay your taxes-in other words, it can’t be requested prospectively.

Like any creditor, the IRS prefers a partial payment to no payment at all. Thus, the IRS might be willing to settle your liability for less than the full amount if: (a) you aren’t able to pay the full amount, (b) there is doubt as to how much the tax liability is, (c) collection of the liability would create economic hardship for you (for instance, if you are out of work due to health problems, or if sale of your assets to pay the tax would leave you without enough money to meet basic living expenses), or (d) compelling public policy or equity considerations exist, and due to the exceptional circumstances (such as a medical condition that prevents proper management of financial affairs, or reliance on erroneous advice from the IRS), the IRS’s collection of the full liability would undermine public confidence in the fair and equitable administration of tax laws.

The process is started by actually making an offer-in-compromise. If the offer is based on any reason other than doubt as to how much the tax liability is, you must submit your financial information along with the offer. If it is grounded on doubt as to the liability, the IRS is not permitted to request a financial statement. Partial payments must be made to the IRS while a periodic payment offer is being considered. For lump-sum offers, or offers involving five or fewer installments, a 20% down payment (of the total offer amount) must be made with the application.

In order to obtain an offer-in-compromise based on any of the above-mentioned grounds except doubt as to liability, you must agree to comply with all tax law rules on filing returns and paying taxes for the longer of five years or until the offered amount is paid. If you don’t comply with these rules, the compromise will terminate and the IRS can seek collection of the original liability amount.

Innocent spouse relief. If you are unable to pay liabilities that are attributable to your spouse, it might be worth exploring whether you are eligible for relief under the “innocent spouse” provisions. Under limited circumstances, a taxpayer can be relieved from liabilities shown on a joint return filed with a spouse. In general, relief is potentially available for: erroneous items attributable to the other spouse of which you had no knowledge or reason to know; the separate liabilities of a spouse to whom you are no longer married or with whom you no longer reside (including deceased spouses); and liabilities for which it would otherwise be inequitable to hold you liable. This is a very specialized type of relief that carries many procedural and substantive requirements that are beyond the scope of this letter, but it’s important that you’re aware of it because there are strict time restrictions associated with claiming innocent spouse relief.

Avoiding more serious consequences. Many taxpayers ignore their tax liabilities when they run into financial difficulties-for example, by failing to file their tax returns. However, tax liabilities do not go away if left unaddressed, and failing to deal with the problem often exacerbates it. It is very important that you timely file a properly prepared return, even if full payment cannot be made. Include as large a partial payment as you can with the return, and start working with the IRS on one (or more) of the options discussed above as soon as possible. Otherwise, you may face escalating penalties, the risk of having liens assessed against your assets and income, or even seizure and sale of your property. In many cases, these tax nightmares can be avoided by taking advantage of the arrangements offered by the IRS.

Of course, we are available to discuss all of these matters with you on a strictly confidential basis and to offer advice and assistance. Please don’t hesitate to call.

Thank you for your continued support.
Roy A. Lewis, E.A. and Joe W. Schiefer, E.A.

Reprinted with permission: Source: Federal Tax Updates on Checkpoint Newsstand tab 3/16/2011. Thomson Reuters/RIA.

Dear Clients and Friends:

Despite calls for simplifying the tax laws, they have actually been made much more complicated in the last few years. Year after year, there have been numerous tax changes that even some professionals have a tough time keeping up with. This filing season is no different. The 2010 Form 1040 reflects a number of new tax breaks. Some are straightforward. Others are complex. Some present choices. But they all provide an opportunity to save money.

We want you to be aware of the new tax breaks for this filing season so that you can take full advantage of them. To this end, we have put together this listing of the key changes for this filing season:

• Roth IRA rollovers no longer restricted. You can now make a qualified rollover contribution to a Roth IRA, regardless of the amount of your modified adjusted gross income.
• Income from Roth rollover can be spread out. Half of any income that results from a rollover or conversion to a Roth IRA from another retirement plan in 2010 is included in income in 2011, and the other half in 2012, unless you elect to include all of it in 2010.
• Self-employed health insurance deduction. Effective March 30, 2010, a self-employed person who paid for health insurance may be able to include in his self-employed health insurance deduction any premiums he paid to cover his child who was under age 27 at the end of 2010, even if the child was not his dependent. Also, health insurance costs for a taxpayer and his family are deductible in computing 2010 self-employment tax.
• Small business health insurance credit. There’s a new tax credit for an eligible small employer who makes qualifying contributions to buy health insurance for his employees. This credit is very complex but it can yield substantial tax savings. In general, the credit is 35% of premiums paid and can be taken against regular and alternative minimum tax.
• Limits on personal exemptions and itemized deductions ended. You no longer lose part of your deduction for personal exemptions and itemized deductions, regardless of the amount of your adjusted gross income.
• Personal casualty and theft loss limit reduced. Each personal casualty or theft loss is limited to the excess of the loss over $100 (instead of the $500 limit that applied for 2009). This yields larger deductions and thus greater tax savings for affected individuals.
• Corrosive drywall damage. A taxpayer who paid for repairs to his personal residence or household appliances because of corrosive drywall that was installed between 2001 and 2008 may be able to deduct those amounts as casualty losses under a special safe harbor crafted by the IRS.
• Homebuyer credit. An eligible first-time homebuyer (and a long-term resident treated as a first-time homebuyer) may be able to claim a first-time homebuyer credit for a home that was purchased in 2010. To qualify, the home must have cost $800,000 or less. You generally cannot claim the credit for a home you bought after April 30, 2010. However, you may be able to claim the credit if you entered into a written binding contract before May 1, 2010, to buy the home before July 1, 2010, and actually bought the home before October 1, 2010.
• Adoption credit. The maximum adoption credit is $13,170 per eligible child for both non-special needs adoptions and special needs adoptions. In addition, the adoption credit is refundable, i.e., you get the credit even if it exceeds your taxes.
• Gifts to charity. The provision that excludes up to $100,000 of qualified charitable distributions (distributions to a charity from an Individual Retirement Account) has been extended. If you elect, a qualified charitable distribution made in January of 2011, will be treated as made in 2010.
• Enhanced small business expensing (Section 179 expensing). To help small businesses quickly recover the cost of capital outlays, small business taxpayers can elect to write off these expenditures in the year they are made instead of recovering them through depreciation. For 2010, you generally may expense up to $500,000 of qualifying property placed in service during the tax year. This annual limit is reduced by the amount by which the cost of property placed in service exceeds $2,000,000.
• Special depreciation allowance. Businesses that acquire and place qualified property into service after September 8, 2010 can now claim a depreciation allowance in the placed-in-service year equal to 100% of the cost of the property. Businesses that acquired qualified property from January 1, 2010 through September 8, 2010 can claim a bonus first-year depreciation allowance of 50% of the cost of the property.
• Cellular telephones. Cellular telephones (cell phones) and other similar telecommunications equipment have been removed from the categories of “listed property.” This means that cell phones can be deducted or depreciated like other business property, without onerous record keeping requirements.
• Carryback of general business credits. Generally, a business’s unused general business credits can be carried back to offset taxes paid in the previous year, and the remaining amount can be carried forward for 20 years to offset future tax liabilities. However, for 2010, eligible small businesses can carry back unused general business credits for five years instead of just one.
• Luxury auto limits. First-year luxury auto limits for vehicles first placed in service in 2010 are $11,060 for autos and $11,160 for light trucks or vans (for vehicles ineligible for bonus depreciation, or if the taxpayer elects out, $3,060 and $3,160, respectively).
  As you can see, there are many new rules for this filing season. To make sure that you take maximum advantage of them and preexisting rules, which themselves can be complicated, you should come to see us so that we can go over your complete tax picture. Please call us to schedule an appointment at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your continued support,
Roy A. Lewis, E.A. and Joe W. Schiefer, E.A.

Reprinted with permission: Source: Federal Tax Updates on Checkpoint Newsstand tab 1/27/2011. Thomson Reuters/RIA.