| Health Savings Accounts |
| In an attempt to deal with the high cost of medical care in the United States, Congress has passed a tax law allowing certain taxpayers to set up a health savings account (HSA), a tax-exempt trust or custodial account for the payment or reimbursement of medical expenses. More... |
| Depletion |
| When a natural resource is owned or operated by a taxpayer, that asset may be used up by the process of mining coal, metals, or other minerals, quarrying stone, drilling for oil or gas, or felling timber. Under the Internal Revenue Code, the owner or operator is entitled to a depletion deduction to allocate the cost of the natural resource ratably over the productive life of the resource.More... |
| Partnership Anti-abuse Provisions |
| The Internal Revenue Service has the authority to disregard the partnership form of an entity if the operations of the business are found to be inconsistent with the intent of the partnership tax statutes and the partnership form is being used for tax-avoidance purposes. According to Treasury Regulations, the intent of the partnership laws is to allow taxpayers to conduct a joint business activity through a flexible economic arrangement without incurring an entity-level tax. More... |
| How Long Should a Taxpayer Keep Records? |
| Piles and piles of tax returns, papers, bank statements, and canceled checks are accumulating in your attic. Just how long do you have to keep all of this?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... |
Robert H. Feldman
Tax Newsletter
