As previously announced, the IRS will be handing out refunds for those taxpayers who use long-distance service. The refund will be available on the 2006 federal income tax return for individuals and businesses. Responding to concerns that the tax refund might require taxpayers to dig through old phone bills to claim the tax, the IRS…
Guest Blogger: Madeline M. Martin While perusing one of my favorite serious legal periodicals, “In Touch” magazine, I noticed a short article regarding the taxes associated with the “gift bags” given to celebrities at the various awards ceremonies. As they accurately reported, the bags, and everything in them are not mere gifts (just ask Oprah)…
Yesterday, I posted that I predicted that the top tax news story of the year would be the privatization of collections efforts from IRS. I may have to eat my words. If a ruling made by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit remains – and if other courts follow suit, a seemingly…
Matter, that is. The IRS has announced that, within the next few weeks, it will turn over thousands of taxpayer accounts to three private companies for debt collection (slated to increase to ten companies by 2008). These accounts are those with outstanding amounts owing of $25,000 or less. Ostensibly, the idea for this move towards…
You can’t turn on the TV lately without seeing those ads from so-called “debt counseling” services that offer to reduce or eliminate your credit card debt by consolidating your debt, among other plans. Often, those services included significant fees for “helping you” with your debt. Income to the companies that run those gigs? Of course…
Okay, who other than Senator Frist will admit that they thought the newly packaged estate tax reduction/minimum wage increase bill was going anywhere? Every practitioner that I spoke with saw the tacking on of the estate tax reduction to the minimum wage increase as both a death knell for the bill and politicking. Nothing more….
So maybe we were all wrong after all. After I posted that Tori Spelling stood to inherit a “significant portion” of her father’s estate, we find out that’s not necessarily true after all. Us Weekly is now quoting sources that say that 33-year-old Tori will inherit just $800,000 of her father’s estimated $500 million estate as…
Following on the heels of the Lillian Glasser saga, another member of a wealthy family in America is alleging mistreatment of the rich and famous at the hands of a child. In this case, it is multimillionaire Brooke Astor who is reportedly being mistreated by her 82-year-old son. Her grandson, Philip Marshall, is claiming that…
In 2002, the 7,500 largest foreign corporations controlled by large U.S. multinational corporations held $5.8 trillion in assets and reported receipts of $2.3 trillion. Of these corporations, 28.9% sold goods, 26.1% sold services, and 24.2% were in the finance, insurance and real estate rental and leasing industries. More than half of foreign corporations controlled by…
For tax year 2003 (the most recent tax year for which data is available), individuals reported noncash donations valued at $36.9 billion. These donations were reported on federal form 8283, Noncash Charitable Contributions, which is required when a taxpayer makes noncash donations which exceed a total $500. Not surprisingly, corporate stock was the largest percentage,…