Practice Management

With the start of hurricane season, the Internal Revenue Service is encouraging individuals and businesses to safeguard themselves and their tax records against natural disasters by following a few simple steps.

A dozen multinational corporations paid an effective tax rate of negative 1.5 percent on billions of dollars in profits while reaping billions in taxpayer subsidies.

As the economy picks up to yield-reduced investment risk, and as an increase in tax rates continues to threaten, the benefits of Section 1202 qualified small-business stock deserve some attention. From both the perspective of the investor seeking to maximize after-tax yields and the entrepreneur seeking additional capital, the 2010 Tax Relief Act's extension of the 100 percent exclusion of gain from Section 1202 stock for an additional year, through Dec. 31, 2011, is an opportunity worth revisiting. What remains constant under any second look, however, is that Section 1202 requires patience: It will take a taxpayer at least five years to see how the story ends after any particular acquisition of qualified stock.

FLORIDA

The world is shrinking—and the surge of international business is a contributing factor.

The relationships between the nation's banks and CPA firms has at times been both competitive and profitable.

The medical analogy comes up often when discussing the fount of credentials available as shiny new letters hitched to the back of an accountant's name.

IRS BEGINS ENFORCING RETURN PREPARER RULES

There have been a number of surveys conducted that attempt to measure the desirability of doing or investing in business in one state versus another.

An agreement to raise the debt ceiling in Congress appears to be linked increasingly to a deal to cut both taxes and Medicare spending.