Tuesday, April 17, 2012 Congratulations on making it through another Tax Season!!!
Bob, Lara and I wanted to congratulate you on completing another tax season!!!
We hope it was a successful season and we look forward to seeing you at one of the upcoming Summer Seminars or at the Tax Symposium at Mohegan Sun in October!!!
As always if there is anything that we can do to assist you with a client matter, or help you in any area of your practice, please do not hesitate to call or email. We look forward to working with you throughout the year!!!
Enjoy the beautiful weather!
Neil
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 Super Committee - Take 2
As you all know by now, the Super Committee has failed in its task regarding deficit reduction. Politics as usual! It now appears that there may not be any significant tax legislation, income or estate related, until after the Presidential election. Planning in a vacuum continues.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 Thanksgiving
Neil, Lara and I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.
Monday, November 14, 2011 Super Committee report
The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, commonly known as the Super Committee, was created by the Budget Control Act of 2011. The committee was charged with issuing recommendations for at least $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction steps to be undertaken over a ten-year period. Their report is due next week (November 23). Areas to be considered by the committee include raising taxes and tax reform including the simplication of the tax code and the elimination of tax breaks and loopholds.
Over the past few weeks a number of rumors have appeared, from sources allegedly close to the committee, as to changes in the tax laws that will be presented in the report. I am sure you have read some of these rumors. For example, one report has the estate tax exemption going back to the $1 million level starting next year. Another has the exemption going back to $3.5 million effective the date the report is issued. And so on and so on!
However, if you believe the reports that have recently been published in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journel, and the Washington Post, there will be no specific tax proposals coming in the report. Instead, the committee will decide on the amount of revenue to be raised but will leave to the tax-writing committees of Congress to fill in the details next year.
Here we go again! When the report is issued we will be back with further comments.
Bob Katz
Friday, November 11, 2011 Networking Event
We thought that you would be interested in an upcoming networking event for accountants and attorneys only. OnTuesday, November 29, there will be a "Networking Wine Tasting Reception" at the Crest Hollow Country Club. This event is run by the Attorneys and Accountants Joint Committee in cooperation with the NYSSCPAs, Nassau and Suffolk Chapters and the Nassau and Suffolk County Bar Associations and the Suffolk County Women's Bar.
The event will start with a cocktail party from 6 P.M. to 7 P.M. followed by a buffet and presentation by Elyse Luray, the author of "Great Wines Under $20." Following that there will be networking until 8:30 P.M. The cost of the event is $50 per person if you register before the event or $60 at the door.
This should be an excellant night of networking for you. We are one of the sponsors of the event and if you attend please stop by our table to meet with us.
If you are interested in coming to this event please contact Kathleen Becker at Marcum LLP. Her phone number is 631-414-4404 and her email address is Kathleen.Becker@marcumllp.com.
Bob Katz
Monday, April 18, 2011 Happy April 18th!!!
Bob, Lara and I wanted to congratulate you on completing another tax season!!!
We hope it was a successful season and we look forward to seeing you at one of the upcoming Summer Seminars or at the Tax Symposium at Mohegan Sun in October!!!
As always if there is anything that we can do to assist you with a client matter, or help you in any area of your practice, please do not hesitate to call or email.
Enjoy the holidays.
Neil Wednesday, April 06, 2011 1099 Legislation
Congress has passed the "Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Replacement of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011" which repeals the controversial expanded information reporting requirements. In March 2010, Congress passed the Patient Protection Act which included a provision requiring businesses, charities and governmental entities to file Form 1099 when they make annual purchases aggregating $600 or more to a single provider of goods (other than tax-exempt organizations). This provision also repealed the long-standing rule that exempted payments made to corporations. The Patient Protection Act, generally, provided that this provision would be effective for payments made after December 31, 2011.
When this bill was passed it would have created unnecessary bookkeeping burdens on businesses. Congress has previously discussed the repeal of this provision. On April 5, 2011 the Senate approved the repeal that was previously approved by the House of Representatives on March 3, 2011. Since both bills are identical there is no need for the bills to go to a conference committee and will therefore be sent directly to the President. It is expected that the President will sign this bill into law shortly after he receives it. Tuesday, January 25, 2011 Problem Obtaining a PTIN
A number of preparers have had problems obtaining a PTIN online and those who made paper requests may have to wait 4 to 6 weeks to get their PTIN. As a result they have been seeking information as to how they can prepare tax returns without having received the PTIN. To this end the IRS has issued Notice 2011-11.
The Notice provides that a preparer who has made a good faith effort to obtain a PTIN can either use their social security number or the PTIN number that they received prior to September 28, 2010. The preparer will qualify for this relief if they:
1. received a notice from the IRS that it was unable to process their online PTIN application, (See Frequently Asked Questions below) or
2. received an acknowledgement of receipt of their paper application.
A copy of the notice or acknowledgement should be kept by the preparer as evidence of their good faith effort. In addition, preparers who rely on this notice must pay the $64.25 PTIN application fee, as instructed by the IRS.
It should be noted that the IRS has updated their Frequently Asked Questions, concerning obtaining the PTIN as a result of this Notice. As to failure to obtain the PTIN online it refers to failure after 4 online attempts in 24 hours receiving a message that begins with "Your information still does not match......."
For your information: As of today, the government has now issued in excess of 620,000 PTINs and is receiving an average of 3,500 applications a day. At $50 each...well you can do the math. Tuesday, December 14, 2010 PTIN Update from IRS
As the issue of the PTINs is still very concerning to many, I thought that I would share with you some information that I just received from the IRS Stakeholder Liaison's office concerning the application process:
"The inventory of paper PTIN applications (Forms W-12) is currently about 27,000. The majority of applications are being processed within four to six weeks.
Payments with paper PTIN applications are not cashed until processing is completed. Any preparer who has a paper Form W-12 pending may still opt to register online at any time. If a preparer does this, when his or her paper application is processed, the system will determine that a PTIN has already been issued online, and the paper form and voided payment will be returned.
Approximately 1,700 forms are over six weeks old. Processing has been attempted but not completed on these forms because the information submitted does not match IRS records. Before rejecting any applications, the IRS is making a careful comparison of the information to ensure rejection is valid.
Applicants are encouraged to carefully check information when applying for PTINs online or on paper. Our analysis indicates many of the applications we have been unable to process have included incorrect SSNs and dates of birth. In addition, even after the IRS corrected a programming problem involving spouses on joint returns with different last names, the largest percentage of mismatches continues to be related to the last name. Applicants should review their last income tax return and enter their name exactly as it appeared."
Neil Wednesday, November 24, 2010 Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our subscribers.
Bob, Neil and Lara |