Tax News

A high school senior with a perfect attendance record and good grades was entered by the school into a “Strive to Drive” drawing held by a local car dealership. She won a Jeep Renegade valued at o...

The IRS has announced that the interest rates applicable to overpayments and underpayments of federal taxes for the fourth quarter of 2019 are the same as for the third quarter of the year (Rev. Rul. ...

Compensatory damages received for a personal physical injury or sickness are excludable from gross income. Damages for any other personal reason, such as defamation, as well punitive damages for any r...

In certain situations, an employer is required to distribute funds held in the company’s retirement plan, after withholding 20%. But what happens if the individual fails to cash the check? The IR...

Because of changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, many taxpayers didn’t pay enough in income taxes through withholding and estimated tax payments to satisfy the safe harbors for avoiding  estim...

It’s increasingly common for individuals to have their DNA tested through Ancestry.com and other sites in order to learn more about their family background. One site—23andMe—also offers DNA test...

Employees can file a revised Form W-4 to change their wage withholding for 2020. The IRS announced the release of a new online withholding calculator estimator to make it easier for an employee to fig...

Several years ago, the IRS concluded that cryptocurrency, also called virtual or digital currency, is property not currency (Notice 2014-21). As such, you must report gain or loss on every transaction...

Distributions from health savings accounts (HSAs) to pay qualified medical expenses are not taxable. These accounts must be combined with a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). The question has been: C...

A married couple filed a joint return for one year that did not include the wife’s Social Security benefits. These benefits resulted from her being formally classified as disabled. In the following ...

Pursuant to the Bipartisan Budget Act in 2018, the IRS has created a new tax form for those age 65 and older at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s--dft.pdf. The form, which can be used for the 201...

A taxpayer took a distribution from her IRA of $524,981.89 to pay for the purchase of a home while she waited for the sale of her former home to close. When it did, she overnighted a check to the fina...

On July 1, 2019, President Trump signed into law the Taxpayer First Act (P.L. 116-25), which is legislation focused on IRS practices and procedures. The IRS is supposed to enhance customer service to ...

Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate, has released her final report (she’s retiring after serving for 18 years) (IR-2019-119, 6/20/19). The report reviews the 2019 tax filing season and lists ...

Prior to 2018, homeowners could exclude from gross income the cancellation of a mortgage on their principal residence up to $2 million. This exclusion was limited to a loan to buy, build, or substanti...

When you own an IRA, you can designate who you want to inherit it. This can be a spouse, a child, a trust, or your estate. There are different tax consequences for each type of designation you select....

If you report income on your return that doesn’t match what’s been reported by banks, brokerage firms, and other third parties, to the IRS, you may receive IRS Notice CP2000 (FS-2019-10). This not...

The IRS has announced that the interest rates applicable to overpayments and underpayments of federal taxes is lower in the third quarter of 2019 compared with the rates in the second quarter of the y...

Recently, the IRS announced next year’s contribution limits for health savings accounts (HSAs), as well as requirements for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) to which HSAs must be linked (Rev. Pr...

If you buy or lease a car, light truck, or van for your business, special tax rules may limit what you can write off. If you buy the vehicle, dollar limits cap depreciation write-offs. If you lease th...