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Waiting For The Tax Cut Shoe To Drop
But, no. I had to go back to my youthful ambition and become a writer of sorts. So I have been obsessively watching for little tidbits and at 8:00 AM on November 2, 2017, am already on my third cup of coffee, because a draft bill is promised to drop at 9:00 AM.
Florida Couple Fails To Check References Or Keep Receipts – Does Not End Well In Tax Court
A Florida couple got a painful tax lesson following an even more painful lesson in how not to be a landlord. The sad story is in Tax Court Summary Opinion 2017-79. ...
Manafort And Gates – That’s How They Got Al Capone
As it works out, in the 12 count indictment seven of the counts are for failure to file FBAR. For Manafort it was 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. For Gates it was 2011, 2012 and 2013. You may read in some stories, like this one in the Washington Post, that Manafort and Gates are facing a combined potential of 150 years in prison. If that were true the FBARs would account for 70 of those years. That is not, however, how sentencing actually works. The United States Sentencing Commission has a manual on how to compute guideline sentences. It is a fairly complicated process involving the determination of an “offense level” that is then cross-referenced with a criminal history. There is a chapter on how multiple counts enter into determining the offence level. That is also complicated, but, bottom line, it is not additive. Of course, Manafort is nearly seventy years old, so even a much more modest guideline sentence might intimidate him.
IRS Scandal Ends As It Began With An Apology
Although the matter, of course, has a prehistory a report of Lerner’s apology is what Paul Caron, the indefatigable scandal chronicler, counts as Day 1 of the IRS Scandal. It really does seem that it is ending where it began with essentially the same apology. The Wall Street Journal reports that Edward Greim one of the lawyers in the Norcal case said that they would be getting a “seven-figure” amount, although he declined to name a more exact number. Split 428 ways, that might not amount to very much per group particularly if some of it gets applied to attorneys fees.
Tax Court Expects Better Tax Judgment From Submarine Skipper Than CPA/Lawyer
What really impresses me about Mr. McNeill is his first career. He graduated from Annapolis in 1962 and served in the Navy until retirement, at the rank of commander, in 1981. His most notable assignment, to me anyway, was command of USS Tautog SSN-639. I have this fascination with submarine skippers and devour their memoirs, a topic which I never expected to work into this blog, but here it is. Tautog was a Sturgeon-class fast attack submarine. Command of a nuclear submarine and command of the Naval Nuclear Power School convince me that Commander McNeill had an awful lot on the ball.
Playboy Building In Tax Court
The prospect of the appeal is intriguing, given what happened with the Kaufmans. They won in the First Circuit, so the Tax Court had to take another look at the facts without considering the lack of mortgage subordination. That led to the determination that the easement was worthless since based on the neighborhood (the South End in Boston), there were already substantial restrictions on messing with the facade. I covered that decision also.
Clergy Housing Tax Exemption The Times Square Of Religion And Taxation
Of course, we are not starting fresh. 107(2), dubious as its constitutionality might be, has been around for over 60 years and people have made a lot of plans based on it. When President Trump finally gets around to making me his tax czar, here is my edict. The Clergy Tax Simplification Act of 2018 will say that ministers can pay taxes just like everybody else. Any existing housing allowances will be grandfathered. Only there will be a cap of $4,137 month. If it is good enough for a Brigadier General in Los Angeles, it is good enough for a religious racketeer.
Keith Tucker Cashes KPMG Get Out Of Jail Free Card In Tax Court
KPMG put Mr. Tucker into a deal when the IRS was starting to catch on to the shenanigans. You can read the decision if you want to read about the offsetting long and short currency options, called the FX transaction, that purported to create basis out of thin air. Mr. Tucker was assured that it was different from the deals that IRS had described in Notice 2000-44. It was not different enough when it came to actually working, but along with the stellar reputation of KPMG it was different enough to get Mr. Tucker out of penalties. Here are some of the high points.
Clergy Housing Tax Break Ruled Unconstitutional – Again
It’s deja vu all over again in the United States District Court For The Western District of Wisconsin as Judge Barbara Crabb rules that Code Section 107(2) – the parsonage exclusion- is unconstitutional. The parsonage exclusion allows “ministers of the gospel” to exclude from taxable income payments designated as housing allowances that they actually spend on housing. In this ecumenical age “minister of the gospel” is expansive including not only your classic minister like my blogging buddy Southern Baptist Reverend William Thornton but also rabbis, cantors, imams and, subject to the right conditions, the occasional college basketball coach. Usually, the benefit is pretty modest and many moderately paid ministers would probably give it up in exchange for a FICA match, but in the case of the megapastors of megachurches and televangelists, the allowance can and does run into the hundreds of thousands.
FASB Confirms Corporate Rate Cut Has Immediate Effect On Earnings
Berkshire Hathaway has the largest positive adjustment – $33 billion. That is more than Berkshire’s net income of $27 billion in 2016. Next is AT&T with a $25 billion positive adjustment. That is even more dramatic than Berkshire when you consider AT&T’s $13 billion net income in 2016. The positive effect on Verizon is $20 billion compared to net income of $13 billion in 2016. Comcast’s earnings rise by $15 billion, Pfizer and Exxon Mobil have $13 billion positive adjustments.
Negative Income Adjustments Over $5 Billion
The biggest loser is Citigroup with a $20 billion negative adjustment followed by $15 billion for General Motors $9 billion for AIG and $8 billion for Bank of America.