Courts Should Not Rely on Information from the Wikipedia- February 28, 2007 The Wikipedia is a popular internet encyclopedia that is written and edited online by anonymous individuals. As the popularity of the Wikipedia grows, so too does the perception that the Wikipedia provides accurate and reliable information. For instance, the United States Tax Court cited the Wikipedia today in its Ferguson v. Commissioner opinion. As the title of this post indicates, I personally do not think that the tax court or any other court should rely on information found in the...http://www.irstaxtrouble.com/2007/02/courts-should-not-rely-on-information.html Health Reimbursement Arrangements: Employer-Provided Medical Coverage- February 25, 2007 The business enterprise presents taxpayers with numerous tax planning opportunities. Many of these tax planning opportunities include pulling money out of the entity in a way that benefits both the business and its owners and employees on an after-tax basis. As with employer-provided education benefits, employers may be able to minimize their tax obligations by reimbursing employees for employee medical costs.A health reimbursement arrangement (HRA, or health reimbursement account) is simply..http://www.irstaxtrouble.com/2007/02/health-reimbursement-arrangements.html Tournament Poker Accorded Same Tax Treatment as Live-Action Poker- February 21, 2007 Today, in Tschetschot v. Commissioner, the tax court ruled that taxpayers where not entitled to treat tax losses from tournament poker different than tax losses from live-action poker. In the Tschetschot case the taxpayer had earned $49 thousand dollars from her day job and $11 thousand dollars from gambling. The taxpayer claimed a $29 thousand dollar loss, which offset all of her $11 thousand dollar gambling winnings and part of her $49 thousand dollar income. On audit, the IRS denied all...http://www.irstaxtrouble.com/2007/02/tournament-poker-accorded-same-tax.html Automoble Dealerships Present Unique Challenges for the IRS- February 17, 2007 Automobile dealerships and other significant cash-based businesses pose a number of problems for the IRS and tax fraud (and, indirectly tax planning) opportunities for taxpayers. Chief Counsel Advice Memorandum 200707001 provides an example of a few of these problems and tax fraud opportunities.This Advice Memorandum addresses whether payments to the automobile dealers bank account by an independent contractor salesman that exceed $10,000 must be reported on Form 8300 (The facts in the Advice..http://www.irstaxtrouble.com/2007/02/automoble-dealerships-present-unique.html Traditional Estate Tax Planning Will Now Have to Include Sophisticated Income Tax Planning- February 10, 2007 Traditional estate planning focuses on minimizing the impact and addressing the limitations presented by our federal estate and gift regime. Very limited thought is put into the income tax consequences. This can prove to be a costly mistake especially given the tax law changes that are looming on the horizon.The estate and gift tax regime applies to property transfers. Estate and gift tax planning often consists of reducing the amount of estate and gift taxes payable so that the maximum...http://www.irstaxtrouble.com/2007/02/traditional-estate-tax-planning-will.html |