Gift Tax exclusions limits

This holiday season, you may want to make cash gifts to loved ones. The annual gift tax exclusion for 2023 is $17,000 ($34,000 for married couples). You can give up to that amount to an unlimited number of people by Dec. 31, and the gifts will be exempt from gift tax, the generation-skipping tax and […]

IRS to focus audits on Affluent taxpayers

In recent months, the IRS has repeatedly indicated that it intends to focus audit activity on affluent taxpayers with more than $400,000 in annual income, large partnerships and big corporations. Taxpayers in these groups should, therefore, be prepared for extra scrutiny. You may want to review tax filings from the past three years to ensure […]

IRS warns of scheme

The IRS is warning taxpayers about an art donation scheme. Fraudsters are encouraging high-income taxpayers to purchase artwork at “discounted” prices and then wait a year before donating the pieces at inflated fair market values, which are typically significantly higher than the purchase prices. These are the amounts that taxpayers will use for deductible charitable […]

Federal Deficit Grew to $2 Trillion in FY 2023

Federal Deficit Grew to $2 Trillion in FY 2023 https://bit.ly/3QgxYAx

IRS is focusing on improving overall experience

One area the IRS is focusing its efforts on is improving the overall taxpayer experience. To that end, the deputy chief of the IRS’s Taxpayer Experience Office, Courtney Kay-Decker, recently published an article outlining efforts “to make improvements and make progress toward the IRS goal of delivering exceptional service every day.” According to Kay-Decker, funding […]

New guidance issued on home contractor tax credit

New IRS guidance is available for a tax credit for eligible home contractors of up to $5,000 per home. Eligible contractors must construct or substantially reconstruct and rehab qualified new energy efficient homes. The credit amount varies by the type of home, the home’s energy efficiency and more. The home must be in the United […]

House Ways and Means asks for clarification on IRS’s ERC pause

Just weeks ago, the IRS halted acceptance of new claims for the Employee Retention Credit amidst fraud concerns. IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said that a flood of ineligible claims promoted by fraudsters had led to a pause in accepting new claims and added to the processing time for claims filed. Members of the U.S. House […]

Year-end tax strategies may affect how much retirees pay for Medicare

Year-end tax strategies may affect how much retirees pay for Medicare. Here’s what to know – CNBC https://bit.ly/3tv6lef

Tax Court rules on corporaton’s rewards program

The Tax Court refused to “reward” a corporation when it failed to include customer rewards program revenue in its gross income. The IRS had determined that the taxpayer’s method of accounting was improper because it didn’t treat the program’s operating fund revenue as taxable. The corporation argued it could exclude the revenue because its use […]

IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Unit releases 2024 Program Letter

Compliance that’s “holistic, smarter, broader and stronger” is the hoped-for result of the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TE/GE) unit’s plan for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. In its recently released FY 2024 Program Letter, TE/GE stressed that its priorities are aligned with those of the IRS’s FY 2023-2031 Strategic Operating Plan. That plan contains […]