A company may take a position on its tax return in good faith, but due to the complexities of tax law, it’s never a sure thing that it will be sustained.The now two-year-old FASB Interpretation No. 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, or FIN 48, establishes a “more-likely-than-not” threshold for the reporting of uncertain tax positions on financial statements. Under the rule, an uncertain tax position may not be recognized on the financial statement unless it is more likely than not that it will be sustained on its technical merits, and then it is measured at the largest amount of benefit that is greater than 50 percent likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson’s list of objectives — detailed in the first of her two annual required reports to Congress — zeroes in on the problems that she intends to focus on during the fiscal year ahead.At least one of the objectives — which focuses on the liabilities of incentive stock options under the Alternative Minimum Tax — has a good chance of being resolved, according to Tim Carlson, president of the Coalition for Tax Fairness and pro bono attorney for a number of victims of the anomaly. “Pending legislation will fix it, and it has support from both sides of the aisle,” he said.

With volatile economic times threatening, flexibility in all aspects of financial affairs, including charitable giving, is more desirable than ever. While there is an increased need for charitable donations, there are also fewer resources among potential donors. One charitable giving vehicle that has grown popular over the past ten years because of its efficiencies is the charitable remainder trust.A CRT can provide a new income stream for the donor and a benefit to charity — a classic win-win situation. CRTs should continue to have viability for present-day donors, especially those who maximize the flexibility that the rules allow. In pushing CRTs to their legal limit, however, taxpayers also must heed restrictions that, if not followed, can result in disastrous tax consequences.

It’s vacation season, and we’re buying some relief from the never-ending stream of deadlines by republishing our all-time favorite tongue-in-cheek column that sheds light on how ludicrous many important features of GAAP are.If financial statements really are scorecards for business, reporting real outcomes, as well as sources of information for predicting the future, it’s essential that they usefully describe what actually happens instead of what someone hoped would happen.

Apple's former general counsel, Nancy Heinen, agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle stock options backdating charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it has resolved its litigation with Sun Communities over the company's accounting practices and will impose a $25,000 penalty on the mobile home community developer's former CFO.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has certainly been hearing an earful in recent days from a variety of organizations warning that the amendments it is proposing to two of its accounting statements could lead to a spate of lawsuits.