| Tax Court |
|
| The main purpose of the Tax Court is to give the taxpayer an opportunity to be heard before he or she is compelled to pay any tax within the Court's jurisdiction, including income, estate, gift, self-employment, or special excise taxes. When a taxpayer receives a notice of deficiency from the Internal Revenue Service, he or she may decline to pay the tax and may petition the Tax Court to review the deficiency. The Tax Court is the only judicial body from which a taxpayer may obtain relief without the payment of taxes. More... |
|
|
| Identity Theft Scheme Involving E-mails |
|
| You get an email from the Internal Revenue Service informing you that you are under investigation for tax fraud and are subject to criminal prosecution. Once you have started breathing again, you read further and get to the good news. According to the e-mail, there is an IRS website that can help your investigation if you provide certain personal and financial information. You go the website, which is certainly official looking, and think about entering the requested data, including your social security and drivers license numbers, and bank and credit card information. But then you see a grammatical error in the website text, and a bell goes off in your head. Fortunately, you contact your local IRS office before doing anything else. More... |
|
|
| Wash Sales |
|
| A transaction is classified as a wash sale if you sell or trade securities or stock at a loss AND within 30 days before or after the sale (61-day period) you buy substantially identical stock, acquire substantially identical stock by means of a fully taxable trade, or acquire a contract or option to buy substantially identical stock. Under the Internal Revenue Code, you are not entitled to deduct any losses sustained through a wash sale. More... |
|
|
| Home-Based Business Tax Avoidance Schemes |
|
| We are all entitled to take advantage of every legal exclusion, deduction, and credit to reduce our federal income tax liability. However, we must, as taxpayers, be aware of bad advice that could result in improper and costly tax avoidance. More... |
|
|
| Net Operating Losses for Farmers |
|
| If you are a farmer who had a loss from the operation of your business, you might be eligible for favorable tax treatment of that loss. Generally, a taxpayer is entitled to carry back a net operating loss to the two tax years before the loss year and to deduct it from the income of those years. In that way, the taxpayer may get a refund of all or part of the income taxes paid in those prior years. If the net operating loss is not used up in the carryback period, the taxpayer is permitted to carry it forward for the next 20 years. More... |
|
|