The T1134 and T1135 are a sample of Canadian foreign information returns like the U.S. 8938, 5471 or 8865.
A number of Canadians are investing in the U.S. real estate market with a U.S. limited partnership whose limited partners are solely Canadian residents and the general partner is a U.S. C corporation whose shareholders are also Canadian residents.
For those who want limited liability protection, this type of Read More
You may have started a home-based business and now it is tax time and you don’t know what to do. You’re operating a business, so your expenses are deductible, right? Not. So. Fast.
If you’re not making a profit, the IRS may regard your business as a hobby. If this happens, you may not be able to deduct your losses. You would still report the income from the hobby activity, but it would be Other Income on line 21 of the Read More
There is no one who understands the business of people who are laid off better than I do. Over thirty years, I have dealt with tax professionals who have been laid off for a wide range of reasons due to mergers, acquisitions, seasonal tax work, and a variety of other reasons. What I want to bring attention to in this blog post Read More
By Ephraim Moss, Esq. & Joshua Ashman, CPA
For most U.S. citizens living abroad, life is pretty good – at least that’s what the latest statistics are telling us. In a 2015 survey of thousands of expats worldwide, a whopping 81% responded that they are generally happy with life overseas.
At the risk of spoiling this picture of expat bliss, further statistics show, however, that most U.S. expats are failing quite miserably in the area of tax compliance.
The reason is basically two-fold. First, there are millions of U.S. citizens living abroad that simply don’t file returns despite their continuing obligation to do so. Many of these expats are Read More
If any lawyers you happen to see this coming week look a bit more depressed than usual, it may be due, at least in part, to the unexpected passing of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. His sudden death was especially jarring for all of us who have ever experienced the completely unanticipated loss of a friend or loved one.
The pride of Trenton, New Jersey passed away at age 79 while on vacation in Texas. He was a government lawyer for President Richard Nixon, and was subsequently appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals. What’s the old joke…the definition of “federal judge” is a lawyer who knows a senator? From there, President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the High Court in 1986. Read More
Most taxpayers have a fear of being audited by the IRS. I was inclined to say they have a “healthy fear,” but that is not always the case, as some live in dread of being audited by the IRS. Admittedly, there are instances of IRS abuse in this area, and we should be aware of the potential for abuse. However, audits have changed from in the past. In 2014, 71 percent of all audits were conducted by correspondence. Many of the remaining 29 percent were onsite audits of businesses. The days of individuals making a trek to the local IRS office are disappearing. Read More
On 1/28/16, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on – Helping Americans Prepare for Retirement: Increasing Access, Participation and Coverage in Retirement Savings Plans. This isn’t the first time for this topic. There were a few hearings on this in 2014. I’m not sure if anything is driving the renewed attention to this topic now. While tax reform is challenging in an election year, this important topic seems good for any year. There is a need for reform of the tax rules for retirement plans to make them more equitable and simple to help more people save for retirement. Read More
We are now almost half of the way through our 12 week special blog series. We hope you have enjoyed our work so far.
If you have missed out on each or any weeks blog so far, you can find them here: Read More
Article Highlights:
Acquisition Debt
Equity Debt
Tracing Excess Debt
Unsecured Election
One of the current IRS audit initiatives is checking to see if taxpayers are deducting too much home equity debt interest. Generally, taxpayers are allowed to deduct the interest on up to $1 million of home acquisition debt (includes subsequent debt incurred to make improvements, but not repairs) and the interest on up to $100,000 of home equity debt. Read More
The focus of my career has been guiding tax professionals and tax organizations in their growth and success. In this post, I will share the roadblocks most tax leaders face in finding the highly technical tax expertise they need for their organizations. There is a connectivity challenge tax leaders face today and one that I spent more than three decades identifying, researching and ultimately solving. Read More
Incident to a divorce, one question that must be settled between the two spouses is “Who gets to claim the children on their taxes?” It is most commonly thought that reference to the divorce decree (Qualified Domestic Relations Order or QDRO). However, this may not be the case.
Under IRS rules children of unmarried parents are claimed as dependents on the custodial parent’s return. The custodial parent is determined strictly by a time test. The qualifying child must have the same principal place of residence as the taxpayer for more than half the year if the taxpayer is to qualify as the custodial parent. Read More
For tax purposes, alimony is a payment to a spouse or former spouse under a divorce or separation agreement. It does not included voluntary payments outside the scope of the agreement. The payer may deduct alimony, and it is taxable income to the recipient.
There are nine requirements that must be met for the payments to be characterized as alimony:
Payments are required by a divorce or separation agreement
Payer and recipient do not file a joint return
Payment is in cash (check or money order)
Non-cash property settlements, community income, or upkeep or use of the payers property are not alimony
The agreement does not specify that it is not alimony Read More
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Certificates Of Discharge From IRS Liens
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