Thursday, November 11, 2010

2010 Filing Season Statistics

Yesterday, the IRS released statistics from the 2010 filing season. What shouldn't come as a surprise is that the percentage of federal returns e-filed continues to rise. This is largely due to an increase of taxpayers who self-prepared their returns this year. At the same time, the number of returns filed dropped by 2 million from '09. Additionally, the percentage of filers who received a refund dropped by only half a percent.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Where Do We Currently Stand with the AMT Patch? Bush Tax Cuts?

Taxpayers are getting nervous. The IRS is getting nervous. Lawmakers are...working on it. With so many questions still lingering regarding the fate of AMT and the Bush tax cuts following the midterm elections, uncertainty is clouding  many taxpayers' year-end tax planning efforts.

So where do we currently stand with AMT? This article from The Hill sheds some light on the widely expected patch that will yet again surface. And what about the Bush Tax Cuts? Forbes has provided some potential outcomes along with their likelihood in this recent article.

In the end, it is hard to believe that any significant changes will take place between now and December 31st. Rather, we will likely see a year-end scramble to preserve  the status quo and table discussions about their future until 2011, when a similar chain of events will likely repeat itself.

Monday, November 8, 2010

A Closer Look at the 1099 Reporting Requirements Coming in 2012

It wasn’t long after the passing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) that people were alerted to the adjustments made to the business expense reporting requirements taking effect in 2012. These changes, which were thought to have been introduced to help fund the health reform bill, are a game-changer in the 1099 reporting world which had mostly been reserved for reporting payments to independent contractors. Simply stated, businesses (sole proprietors, partnerships, corporations, etc.) will now be required to issue a 1099 for all goods and services purchased with a cumulative total of $600 or more received from ANY, non tax-exempt business.