The latest straight from the IRS — new rules, deadlines, guidance, and announcements explained in plain English.
Our culture is fascinated with marijuana. We speak in hushed tones about cocaine and other “hard” drugs but we’re pretty outspoken about marijuana. It’s even become a question bandied about during presidential campaigns with former President Bill Clinton famously saying that he “didn’t inhale and never tried inhaling again” prompting one MTV viewer to ask…
Remember the IRS redesign? Like many others, I was puzzled by the new color combination (blue and orange, really?). As promised, I sent IRS an email asking them why those particular colors. To my surprise, they replied fairly quickly. Perhaps not so surprising, there was no real answer. Instead, I received this reply: We have…
Just a few months after I reported seeing a bump in scam e-mails purporting to be from the IRS, a new version is making the rounds. The new version is very similar to the prior version. As before, the header is a variation on Federal Tax payment canceled or Your Federal Tax Transaction. The ones…
Last December, Congress pushed through a whole set of changes meant to make them look good on Election Day things easier for taxpayers. One of the changes was the new portability provision which allows spouses to “share” their federal estate tax exclusion amounts with each other. Each person is allowed an exclusion for federal estate…
So, every morning, I surf on over to the IRS website because: (a) I’m a geek like that; and (b) I want to keep on top of the latest tax news. This morning, I got quite the shock. The website is completely re-vamped. Since I hadn’t yet gotten through my first sip of coffee, I…
I have a terrible confession to make: I never leave the house without my cell phone. Really. I rely on my cell phone for work-related calls while I’m out of the office as well as email and messaging. I use it to check Twitter and post to Facebook, and occasionally check the web. I can…
If you lost a loved one in 2010, my sympathies are with you. If you lost a loved one in 2010 that might have a taxable estate, my sympathies are really with you. The “surefire vote getting” one year repeal of the federal estate tax for 2010 has turned into one of the biggest administrative…
We survived Irene. Five days without power and water felt like an eternity but we were very lucky to otherwise not sustain any real damage. My kids were safe albeit a little cranky. I realize that not everyone was so lucky and my thoughts and prayers are with all of you who suffered injury or…
Hurricane Irene is huge. As of last night, 29 million people were under a hurricane warning. The effects of the hurricane are expected to be felt this weekend by nearly 55 million people, or just under the total population of the United Kingdom. Even as the storm is downgraded to a Category 1, power outages…
Whew. It has taken awhile but the IRS has finally issued guidance for the treatment of basis for certain estates of decedents who died in 2010. As you’ve probably heard, there was no federal estate tax due for decedents who died in 2010. Well, er, sort of… Under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation…