IRS has announced that the optional mileage allowance for owned or leased autos (including vans, pickups or panel trucks) will remain at 55.5¢ per mile for business travel after 2011-that is, unchanged from the July 1, 2011 mid-year adjustment. This rate can also be used by employers to reimburse tax-free under an accountable plan employees [...]

As the holidays approach, you’re probably going to give a little extra to your favorite charity. If you itemize
deductions, your kindness may bring you an extra reward in the form of a tax deduction.
Here’s a short list of tax reminders for this year’s charitable deductions:
* Make sure the organization qualifies for a deduction. [...]

Although there are only three weeks left to go before the year ends, it’s not too late to implement some planning moves that can improve your tax situation for 2011 and beyond. Below are some actions that you can take before December 31, 2011 to improve your overall tax picture.
Make HSA Contributions: A [...]

On November 21, 2011, President Obama signed the “Three Percent Withholding Repeal and Job Creation Act.” This new law repeals three percent withholding on certain payments to government contractors, and it provides tax credits to employers who hire unemployed veterans.
The law creates the “Returning Heroes Tax Credit” and the “Wounded Warriors Tax Credit.” Employers [...]

Who: Use tax applies to individuals and businesses. Individuals who purchase taxable products or services from out-of-state locations or buy within Pennsylvania but pay no sales tax to the seller are responsible for paying use tax. The same applies to businesses. Use tax has been added as a line to the 2011 tax return [...]

Late last year, the IRS issued final regulations under which an understated amount of gross income reported on a return resulting from an overstatement of unrecovered cost or other basis is an omission of gross income for purposes of the six-year period for assessing tax and the minimum period for assessment of tax attributable to [...]

Married joint return filers are jointly and severally liable for the tax arising from their returns. Innocent spouses may request relief from this liability in certain circumstances. Previously, the IRS took the position that a request for equitable innocent spouse relief had to be made no later than two years from the first collection activity [...]

For tax years beginning after March 18, 2010, the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act of 2010 provides that individuals with an interest in a “specified foreign financial asset” during the tax year must attach a disclosure statement to their income tax return for any year in which the aggregate value of all such assets [...]

In a new notice and accompanying news release, the IRS reminded executors of the estates of married decedents dying after 2010 that they must file an estate tax return in order to pass along the unused estate and gift tax exclusion amount, available for the first time this year, to their surviving spouse. The first [...]

Under the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, estates of decedents who died in 2010 can choose zero estate tax, but at the price of beneficiaries being limited to the decedents’ basis plus certain increases under Code Sec. 1022. In early August, the IRS issued detailed guidance on how [...]