The IRS Audit Blog

Posts Tagged ‘deductions’

Real Estate Losses Become An IRS Tax Audit Target

Sorry, real estate investor, the Internal Revenue Service is coming to get you, and it won’t be pretty.

Macrophage – “After America”

Question: Why does Obama’s health care require 16,500 new Internal Revenue Service agents?

A new analysis by the Joint Economic Committee and the House Ways & Means Committee staff estimates up to 16,500 new IRS personnel will be needed to collect, examine and audit new tax information mandated on families and small businesses in the ‘reconciliation’ bill being taken up by the U.S. House of Representatives this weekend. …

Scores of new federal mandates and fifteen different tax increases totaling $400 billion are imposed under the Democratic House bill. In addition to more complicated tax returns, families and small businesses will be forced to reveal further tax information to the IRS, provide proof of ‘government approved’ health care and submit detailed sales information to comply with new excise taxes.

Answer: The government wants to make sure it gets every single cent it believes it is entitled to. Universal health care is socialism, and a socialistic government exists to perpetuate itself and the power of those who control it. The health care bill also has a provision in it that allows the IRS to seize citizens’ bank accounts. Big Brother is almost here, and there will be no stopping this, not ever. Once the government runs out of everyone else’s money there will be no stopping the poverty and desperation of our people either, and there will be no America for us to dream of emigrating to, no land of opportunity, no beacon of freedom. Depressing.

White Collar Crime/Tax Trends to Watch in New Year

PHILADELPHIA, PA–(Marketwire – 01/05/11) – The U.S. government’s intensive tax and money laundering enforcement drive will continue in 2011, with authorities still sharply focused on offshore assets. The IRS will implement its new “Global High Wealth Industry Group,” dedicated to auditing not just the tax returns but the entire financial arrangements of wealthy individuals, with a focus on …

How to Avoid an IRS Tax Audit : How to Report Tips to the IRS

FACTA Further Erodes Taxpayer Protections Afforded by the Statute of Limitations

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) makes three significant changes; the last of which is

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Pharmaceutical, Healthcare & Life Sciences

Uniform explanation of coverage. Currently under ERISA, administrators of group health plans are required to provide enrollees with a summary plan description (“SPD”) that explains the material terms of the plan, and a summary of material modification when material changes are made to such plans.

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Question: Tax return question: how do I deal with the employee business expense deduction?

I’m an employee of a private employment agency in the US and I was sent to Europe for five weeks of work at a foreign firm. My airfare and housing was paid directly by the US agency. I was paid directly to my NY bank. I paid for all my own meals and other expenses but I received in cash $100 a week from the foreign firm (which did not cover my meal expenses).
From my reading of IRS Publication 463, the meal cost is deductible but it seems I don’t have to use my actual receipts or memory and can use the Fed per diem rate. But that rate is $170 A DAY!
Does that mean I can deduct $6800 for my 40 days there? That seems insane and doesn’t include laundry, taxis, telephone, etc.
I’m a little nervous to put this down.
I’ll add a sub-question: 2 weeks into the 6 week assignment I flew back to my tax-home for 1.5 days for a family wedding. I went right back to work the next day. Is the airfare deductible as a travel expense?

Answer: Yes, you can claim the per diem, however, you said that you received $100 in cash per week from the foreign firm. So if you are going to claim the full per diem for meals, then you need to claim the $100 in cash per week you received as income as well. The alternative is to reduce the per diem deduction claimed by the amount of cash you received. Also, you need to use just the meals and incidentals portion of the daily per diem. You cannot claim the housing portion of the daily per diem as your housing was paid by the US agency. The per diem rate is the amount that the IRS allows you to claim that you do not need to show receipts for. If your actual expenses exceeded that, then you can claim actual expenses, but you have to be able to support it with receipts if the IRS questions it. Also, note that the meals and incidentals per diem does not include travel expenses that you incurred, such as taxis. So you would be able to claim that as well.

2009 tax law changes provide saving opportunities

In 2009, numerous new and expanded deductions and credits came into being for a broad cross-section of taxpayers: College tax benefits for parents and students; energy credits for homeowners who are going green; and even tax breaks for home buyers and car buyers.