| 
Tax laws provide tax benefits for certain kinds of income and allow special deductions and credits for certain expenses. These benefits can drastically reduce some taxpayers’ tax obligations. Congress created the Alternative Minimum Tax AMT in 1969, targeting higher-income taxpayers who could claim so many deductions they owed little or no income tax. The AMT […]
The Internal Revenue Service announced that the interest rates for the calendar quarter beginning April 1, 2011, will increase by one percentage point. Under the Internal Revenue Code, the rate of interest is determined on a quarterly basis. For taxpayers other than corporations, the overpayment and underpayment rate is the federal short-term rate plus 3 […]
As I already described in an earlier article, the IRS instituted a new voluntary disclosure program, called 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative (“OVDI”). One of the most problematic areas under OVDI is the length of the examination period. Agreeing to assessment of taxes and penalties for all voluntary disclosure years is part of the resolution […]
Today, the IRS announced that it has started processing individual tax returns affected by legislation enacted in December. On Monday, IRS systems began to accept and process both e-file and paper tax returns claiming itemized deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A, as well as deductions for state and local sales tax, higher education tuition and […]
The IRS just instituted a new voluntary disclosure program for taxpayers who have offshore accounts or assets and who failed to properly report them to the IRS and pay appropriate U.S. taxes. It is called 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative (“2011 OVDI”). While 2011 OVDI is not available for everyone and some particular circumstances of […]