Financial Planning

— The Financial Accounting Standards Board has released a staff document that provides answers to questions about FASB’s recently issued proposal on expected credit losses.

Back in 1925, a taxpayer won the first case in the Board of Tax Appeals involving the deduction for horse-breeding activity expenses. Deducting expenses related to the “sport of kings” was so attractive that the estate of Cornelius Vanderbilt tried, and lost, two years later. In the intervening 88 years, about 200 taxpayers have litigated the issue, most with unattractive results. The IRS and the courts have essentially told taxpayers to “stop horsing around.”

The House Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee held a hearing this week to discuss possible tax reforms on financial products such as derivatives.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has added three new implementation guides to its series on using Extensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL, interactive data tags in financial statements.

The Center for Audit Quality has released a new Guide to Internal Control Over Financial Reporting to explain to investors and the general public the process used by U.S. public companies to enhance the reliability of their financial statements by reducing the risk of material errors or misstatements.

In the world of trust and estate administration, where tax planning typically involves special attention to federal tax law compliance, it’s easy to lose focus on state income taxation issues. And while some states do not tax income related to trusts, states that do tax trust income have a variety of rules and criteria for which trusts are subject to tax.

The Tax Court recently settled the valuation issues of an estate that held 64 works of art.

Confidence in the ability to afford a comfortable retirement remains low, according to a new survey, reflecting a growing awareness of the challenges in saving enough money.

Europe’s drive to rescue Cyprus risks undermining a region-wide deposit guarantee plan, a key tenet in the battle to contain the debt crisis, and casts doubt on the ability of the weakest lenders to retain deposits.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is asking for public comments on a proposal from Nasdaq to require Nasdaq-listed companies to establish an internal audit function no later than Dec. 31.