Tax Strategies

In a review of Internal Revenue Service efforts to determine whether charitable and non-profit organizations are being used to divert funds to support terrorist activities, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration suggested a number of steps the Criminal Investigation Division could take to improve counterterrorism efforts.

While staffing, training, new software applications and the latest tax law changes are at the top of every practitioner's to-do list for the tax filing season that looms ahead, the overriding concern this year is the economic crisis and the changes facing both themselves and their clients.

CCH SFS BUYS INTELLITAX

The Internal Revenue Service announced that the interest rates for the calendar quarter beginning Jan. 1, 2009, will drop by one percentage point. The new rates, as laid out in Revenue Ruling 2008-54 will be: -- 5 percent for overpayments (4 percent in the case of a corporation);-- 5 percent for underpayments;-- 7 percent for large corporate underpayments; and,-- 2.5 percent for the portion of a corporate overpayment exceeding $10,000.Under the Internal Revenue Code, the rate of interest is determined on a quarterly basis, based on the federal short-term rate. The most recent rates were computed from the federal short-term rate during October 2008 to take effect Nov. 1, 2008, based on daily compounding.

A completely revised Form 990 will require an overhaul of internal policies and procedures for most tax-exempt organizations, according to Joyce Underwood, director of nonprofit taxation at BDO Seidman's Institute for Nonprofit Excellence.

Once again this year, the headline for the Alternative Minimum Tax is another one-year fix with no permanent solution. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 raised the AMT exemption amount for 2008 to $69,950 for joint filers and $46,200 for single filers. This represents another inflation-adjusted extension of the exemption amount designed to preserve the status quo and keep an additional 21 million taxpayers from being subject to the AMT in 2008. And, once again, without further action, the AMT exemption amount reverts to its pre-2001 level in 2009 unless further congressional action is taken.

H&R Block said it would offer the ability to electronically file up to five federal tax returns in its TaxCut software next tax season, as Intuit also offered the ability for TurboTax users to prepare and print multiple returns at no extra cost along with free e-filing of up to five federal returns.

The Internal Revenue Service should strengthen its approach to evaluating a pilot project for matching federal and state taxpayer information before it extends the tax compliance project to 45 states next year, recommended a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman said the agency would begin ramping up enforcement against tax abuses such as the avoidance of withholding taxes, especially on dividends.

Accounting firms are increasingly going paperless as they prepare for next tax season, relying more on scanners and workflow technology, according to a new survey.