- Maximize Your Charitable Deductions
- As the end of the year approaches, there are still things you can do to increase and properly document your charitable contributions for 2011. Here is a brief rundown:
- Report Those Foreign Financial Connections!
- FinCEN is the acronym for the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. FinCEN is a government-wide, multisource, financial intelligence and analysis network tasked with detecting money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion, and other financial crimes. To do its job, FinCEN must collect financial data from a multitude of sources, including each U.S. person with connections to foreign financial transactions. This has resulted in a number of reporting requirements imposed upon taxpayers that many are unaware can result in draconian penalties for non-compliance.
- How Long Are You on the Hook for a Tax Assessment?
- A frequent question from taxpayers is: how long does the IRS have to question and assess additional tax on my tax returns? For most taxpayers who reported all their income, the IRS has three years from the date of filing the returns to examine them. This period is termed the statute of limitations. But wait – as in all things taxes, it is not that clean cut. Here are some complications:
- Don’t Overlook the Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums
- The tax law provides a credit for small business employers in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 that pay the health insurance premiums for their low- to moderate-income workers. This refundable credit can be as much as 35% of the insurance premiums paid by the employer.
- Don’t Miss Out on the Domestic Production Deduction
- Originally enacted to help offset the repeal of a tax break for U.S. exporters, this provision of the tax code provides a deduction for many U.S. businesses that’s allowed for both regular tax and alternative minimum tax (AMT) purposes. And, despite the deduction’s history, it’s fully available to taxpayers who don’t export.
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