Tax Update

Making sure you get that year-end deduction

Joe Kristan — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:31:00 -0500

When you're spending money to get a tax deduction for your business by the end of the year, you might as well make sure the deduction will hold up when your friendly neighborhood IRS agent comes calli read more »

They'll pretend to take care of you and pretend it's free

Joe Kristan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:45:45 -0500

TaxGrrrl asks a good question : Notwithstanding public options and other controversial parts of the health care reform bill, the real issue that remains of concern to many is how the plan is go read more »

Lessons in non-profit governance

Joe Kristan — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:30:00 -0400

Note to members of non-profit boards: if your executives don't want you to talk with the outside auditors, that's a really, really bad sign. Yet that's what happened at the Iowa Association of School Boards, the entity that runs Skills Iowa, "a special project by Sen. Tom Harkin," according to
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Gourmet Mini Cinnamon Rolls Tax Carnival!

Joe Kristan — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:50:29 -0400

It's almost St. Patricks Day! Technically, today is St. Meningaud's Day , but most taverns don't offer specials for him. While you prepare to get your Irish on tomorrow, get yourself in shape at Kay Bell's new Carnival of Taxes!
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Remember: stuff is due today!

Joe Kristan — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:54:45 -0400

Today is March 15. That means tax returns, or at least extensions, are due today for calendar year corporations. A few things to keep in mind: - If you extend your return filing date to September 15, you get another six months to make your 2009 pension and profit sharing contributions . -
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Michigan is a strange state

Joe Kristan — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:31:38 -0500

At least it is based on this information from a taxpayer, as passed on by a colleague: As an FYI... we have a client who filed their MI Business Tax return this summer and still has not received their refund. They called the MI department of Treasury and this is the answer they were given:
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Spending run through a tax return is still spending

Joe Kristan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -0500

Iowa's legislative Democrats have floated a proposal to cut back on state tax credit. Their effort, HSB 738 , would lower the limits on some credits, suspend the scandal-ridden film credit, and form an oversight committee to ignore the credits until the next scandal monitor and evaluate the cred
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Don't give them any ideas

Joe Kristan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:38:53 -0500

Subsidize them and they will come : Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, an Iowa State University economics professor, said he sees no way to fix the film tax credit under a suspension that would make it pay. “So many states have tried this in various ways and there seems to be broad-based fai
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Still futile after all these years

Joe Kristan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:27:25 -0500

I'd think twice about getting tax advice from somebody whose web site looked like this: Yet people still came to Carel Prater to buy quack advice about using the " Section 861 argument " that U.S.-source income is nontaxable. The injunction pictured above said Mr. Prater wasn't supposed t
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Got options?

Joe Kristan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:22:40 -0500

Here are " Ten Tax Tips For Stock Options ," via Kay Bell .
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