2015 and 2016 Key Numbers
Single TAX RATES 2015 2016 10% bracket tops at 9,225 9,275 15% bracket tops atDavid Mellem, EA
2016 Healthcare Updates
The following is designed to review healthcare changes impacting your clients for the 2016 filing season. The changes that began in 2013 and 2014 are intensifying in 2015. So, strap yourself in and get ready for the latest changes and information that is coming. Since this article was written in the fall of 2015, review of more recent updates is recommended. New Healthcare Coverage Forms for Tax Year 2015 You’ve se... Ben A. Tallman, EA
Do What You Can
Two thousand sixteen. We are another year older and (I hope) another year wiser. We are also on the cusp of yet another filing season. If all played out in DC as we forecasted, Congress at the tail end of 2015 punted on the entire tax extender package. Unfortunately, EAs are used to this maneuver because this will be the third year out of the last four in which Congress has not seen fit to provide untold numbers of individ... Robert Kerr
Is a Postmark made by Stamps.com Evidence of a Timely Filed Petition with the U.S. Tax Court?
Robert H. Tilden, Petitioner v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Respondent T.C. Memo. 2015-188 The jurisdiction of the U.S. Tax Court to redetermine a deficiency in income tax depends upon the issuance of a valid notice of deficiency and a timely filed petition by the taxpayer. The taxpayer normally has 90 days (150 days if the notice is addressed to a person outside the United States) to... Steven R. Diamond, CPA
Read Between the Lines
AN INTERACTIVE ORIENTATION AND PROJECT OF THE SCHULDINER/SMOLLAN LEADERSHIP ACADEMY By Raven Deerwater, EA, Ph.D The Schuldiner/Smollan Leadership Academy (SSLA) was designed to train volunteers for success as leaders of NAEA at the local chapter, state affiliate, or national level. At each training, participants are asked to create a project for themselves to take back and develop at the affiliate level. ... Raven Deerwater, EA, Ph.D
The Grand Parent Tax
GST is imposed on a direct transfer of property to a grandchild that would otherwise be subject to two levels of estate taxation if first taxed as part of the parent’s estate. It is then transferred from parent to child, taxed as part of the child’s estate, and finally transferred to the grandchild. To ensure that such transfers do not entirely escape two levels of taxation, assets conveyed are subject to GST at the time they are tran... Monica Haven, EA, JD, LLM
The IRM: A Resource for the EA
It may not make the New York Times best seller list (and it certainly would not be light reading while waiting for a plane at the airport) but the Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) can be an extremely useful document for enrolled agents in their dealings with the Internal Revenue Service. The Freedom of Information Act at 5 USC 552(a)(2)(c) requires agencies to make staff instructions available to the public. Frank X. Degen, EA, USTCP
Up in the Air with IRD
25 January• February 2016 B January• February 2016 26 In short, IRD is income that had been earned by a taxpayer prior to his death but that had not yet been paid to him. 27 January• February 2016 January• February 2016 28 29 January• February 2016 January• February 2016 30 SOURCE OF INCOME NOTES REGARDING IRD TREATMENT ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Uncollected sales proceeds from pre-death sales of c... Monica Haven, EA, JD, LLM