Congress Faces Historic Tax Law Decisions in Fall Session
Congress returns to work in mid-September to a full agenda of tax legislation, dominated by the fast-approaching expiration of the 2001 individual marginal income tax rate reductions. Predicting when Congress will act on the rate cuts or any legislation is nearly impossible...

What the New 1099 Reporting Requirement Will Mean for Businesses
Businesses of all sizes are preparing for a possible avalanche of information reporting after 2011. To help pay for health care reform, lawmakers tacked on expanded information reporting to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The health care reform law generally requires all businesses, charities and state and local governments to file an information return...

Calculating Correct Withholding and Estimated Tax
Correctly calculating your estimated tax payments and/or withholding is even more important as the year end approaches. Accurate calculations are especially important as third and fourth quarter payments become due, and your income and expenses for the rest of the year can be more accurately projected...

FAQ: Are Scholarships/Tuition Aid Packages Taxable?
If one of your children received a full scholarship for all expenses to attend college this year, you may be wondering if this amount must be reported on his or her income tax return. If certain conditions are met, and the funds are used specifically for certain types of expenses, your child does not have to report the scholarship as income...

How Do I: Prepare for the New W-2 Reporting for Health Care Coverage?
Over the next few years, employers will face a number of new compliance and reporting obligations, among others, as a result of the new health care reform package (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). On the horizon for employers is the requirement to report the value of health insurance coverage they provide to each employee on the employee's annual Form W-2...

President Signs International Tax Reforms into Law
President Obama signed legislation into law on August 10 that includes a package of international tax reforms. The new law (P.L. 111-226) is estimated to raise over $10 billion in additional tax revenues over ten years...

SSA Predicts No Change to Social Security Wage Base for 2011
The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) predicted in a recent report that the amount of wages - the "taxable wage base" - subject to Social Security taxes would remain at $106,800 for tax year 2011. The wage base was $106,800 for both 2009 and 2010...

IRS Issues Final Information Reporting Rules for Credit Card Transactions
The IRS issued final regulations for information reporting for credit card transactions. The rules apply to other payment cards, such as debit cards and gift cards (referred to as stored-value cards). A 2008 law requires credit card companies and electronic payment processors to file reports for their total annual payments, from all transactions, made to individual merchants...

Pension Plans Can Claim Funding Relief After Filing Form 5500
Defined benefit pension plans that intend to seek funding relief under a recent tax law should not delay filing the annual information return required for the plan (Form 5500, Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan), the IRS advised in recent guidance. Employers and plans will not be harmed by filing their Form 5500 on time...

TIGTA Reports Drop in Smaller Corporate Income Tax Returns
The number of income tax returns filed by smaller corporations (those with assets under $10 million) dropped by seven percent from 2005 to 2009, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) revealed in a recent study. Total returns fell from 2.2 million returns for processing year 2005 (generally, returns filed for 2004) to 2 million returns for...

Tax Alerts - August 2010

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