Household Workers: Social Security, Medicare, W-2,
If you hire someone to work in your home, such as a cleaning person, a cook, a gardener or a baby sitter, both you and your employee should know about paying Social Security and...
Category: Taxation
Surviving Spouses to Benefit from Portability Election; Estate Tax Return Required to Make this Choice For Some, Form 706 Due as Early as Oct. 3
IR-2011-97, Sept. 29, 2011 The Internal Revenue Service reminded estates of married individuals dying after 2010 that they must file an estate tax return to pass along their unused estate & gift tax exclusion...
Electing Portability of Deceased Spousal Unused Exclusion Amount
1 If the executor of the estate of a decedent dying after December 31, 2010, intends to make the portability election to allow the decedent’s surviving spouse to use the deceased spousal unused exclusion...
IRS Tax Calendar 2011
IRS Tax Calendar 2011 Tax Calendar for Small Business M. SpikEditor 25 years of experience managing tax, accounting, payroll, and employment-related information portals. Editor of Accounting Portal since 2011. Read full bio → ...
Claiming the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit
Many small employers that pay at least half of the premiums for employee health insurance coverage under a qualifying arrangement may be eligible for the small business health care tax credit. This credit can...
Equal Access to Tax Planning Act
Equal Access to Tax Planning Act – Deems any strategy for reducing, avoiding, or deferring tax liability insufficient to differentiate a claimed invention from the prior art when evaluating specified conditions of patentability under...
Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act
Bill Status Official Summary 7/27/2011–Introduced.Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act – Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to impose restrictions on foreign jurisdictions or financial institutions operating in the United States that are of prime...
Business Expenses – IRS Publication 535
Publication 535 – Introductory Material Introduction Ordering forms and publications. Tax questions. What’s New for 2010 What’s New for 2011 Reminders 1. Deducting Business Expenses Introduction Topics – This chapter discusses: Useful Items...
Forms W-2/W-3 Online – ELECTRONIC W-2 FILING
Forms W-2/W-3 Online M. SpikEditor 25 years of experience managing tax, accounting, payroll, and employment-related information portals. Editor of Accounting Portal since 2011. Read full bio → www.accountingportal.com/about-m-spik/
Backup Withholding for Missing and Incorrect Name/TIN(s) Publication 1281
Publication 1281 What payments are subject to backup withholding? a) Rents and commissions, non-employee compensation for services, royalties, reportable gross proceeds paid to attorneys and other fixed or determinable gains, profits, or income payments...
IRS Releases Specifications for Registered Tax Return Preparer Test
The test is part of an ongoing effort by the IRS to enhance oversight of the tax preparation industry. Preparers who pass this test, a background check and tax compliance check as well as...
New Voluntary Worker Classification Settlement Program
The Internal Revenue Service launched a new program that will enable many employers to resolve past worker classification issues and achieve certainty under the tax law at a low cost by voluntarily reclassifying their...
Guidance to Further Implement Return Preparer Oversight
The IRS released Notice 2011-80, which provides that PTINs must now be renewed on a calendar year basis. All PTIN holders must renew their numbers using the online PTIN application or paper Form W-12...
Reimbursement of Employee Personal Cell Phone Usage (Notice 2011-72)
Notice 2011-72 addresses the tax treatment of employer-provided cell phones for noncompensatory purposes. The Notice provides that, for tax years after December 31, 2009, the IRS will treat the employee’s use of employer-provided cell...
Notice 2011-72 Tax Treatment of Employer-Provided Cell Phones
PURPOSE This notice provides guidance on the tax treatment of cellular telephones or other similar telecommunications equipment (hereinafter collectively “cell phones”) that employers provide to their employees primarily for noncompensatory business purposes. BACKGROUND Section...
TIN Matching – Taxpayer Identification Number Matching
TIN Matching allows authorized payers to match 1099 payee information against IRS records prior to filing information returns. An authorized payer is one who has filed information returns with the IRS in at least...
Reporting on Merchant Payment Cards – Form 1099-K
Whose merchant card payments must be reported? Merchant acquiring entities must report the gross amount of reportable transactions of any payee for whom they settle payment card transactions. A reportable payment card transaction is...
Eligibility to Practice before the IRS
Attorneys An attorney is any person who is a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of any state, territory, or possession of the United States, including a Commonwealth, or...
Education Requirements (continuing education) for Registered Tax Return Preparers
Education Requirements Requirements: Category PTIN Tax Compliance Check Background Check Competency Test Continuing Education Attorneys X X CPAs X X Enrolled Agents X X Registered Tax Return Preparers X X X X X Supervised...
Highway Use Tax Return – Three-Month Extension – Highway Use Tax Return Due Nov. 30, 2011
IRS advised truckers and other owners of heavy highway vehicles that their next federal highway use tax return, usually due Aug. 31, will instead be due on Nov. 30, 2011. Because the highway use...