kcjenkins

Notice 2013-65 announces the special per diem rates, effective Oct. 1, 2013, which taxpayers may use in the year ahead to substantiate the amount of expenses for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses when traveling away from home. The annually announced rates are the special transportation industry rate, the rate for the incidental expenses only deduction, and the rates and list of high-cost localities for purposes of the high-low substantiation method. Rev. Proc. 2011-47 provides the rules for using per diem rates, rather than actual expenses, to substantiate the amount of expenses for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses for travel away from home. Taxpayers who may use per diem rates to substantiate the amount of travel expenses under Rev. Proc. 2011-47 may use the federal per diem rates published annually by the General Services Administration, the IRS pointed out. Rev. Proc. 2011-47 allows certain taxpayers to use a special transportation industry rate or rates under a high-low substantiation method for certain high-cost localities.

Cute, Jainen.

Published: Saturday, 14 Sep 2013 | 1:32 PM ET By: Patrick Temple-West In a win for companies ranging from energy utilities to casinos, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Friday released new rules that broaden the kinds of business expenditures that can be treated as deductible asset repairs. The difference between a deductible repair and a non-deductible improvement to "tangible property" has historically been a point of frequent dispute between the IRS and companies. In more than 220 pages, the IRS has now finalized rules effective Jan. 1, 2014, making more costs deductible, including for instance, new laptop computers worth less than $5,000. "Safe harbors have been expanded and clarified giving taxpayers that meet those safe harbors significant relief," said Brandon Carlton, an accountant with Big Four firm Ernst & Young. Some corporate tax audits involving disputes with the IRS over the tax-deductibility of repairs have been in limbo pending the final rules. Now some audits can be resumed with the rules finalized, said Eric Lucas, a principal at KPMG LLP and a former Treasury Department tax counsel. Companies including Alliant Energy, Boyd Gaming, Hyatt Hotels and NiSource earlier this year said their tax bills could change as a result of the final rules, according to their annual U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. "There has been a lot of controversy on this issue," Lucas said. A spokesman for Alliant said on Friday the company is evaluating the final rules. In 2005, FedEx successfully challenged the IRS over deducting the cost removing aircraft engines for repairs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed that FedEx could deduct the engine repair costs and the package-delivery company was awarded a $66.5 million tax refund. In addition to Friday's rules, the IRS has said it is separately working on repair rules for three specific industry sectors: cable networks, natural gas firms and retailers. The IRS on Friday re-proposed some tangible property rules for further comment and set a public hearing for Dec. 19.

IRS Rides 1884 Dead Horse Law to Defense of Tax Preparer Rules (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Tuesday defended its effort to regulate the tax return preparation business for the first time in U.S. history, basing its case largely on a 19th century law dealing with horses lost or killed in the Civil War.

Because tax law is written by committees, Taxed. A horse built by a committee is a camel, you know.

The thing is that the range of people being hired as Navigators is amazingly broad, and their qualifications almost non-existent, and their training also extremely minimal, a 20 hr online course for the federal hires. More than 100 nonprofits and related organizations, such as church groups, United Way Agencies, community health centers, chambers of commerce, universities, various food groups, Planned Parenthood, Native American tribes, various foundations, unions, senior citizen groups, and many others. which specialize in everything from running soup kitchens to organizing farm workers, have been recruited by the federal government to sign up “navigators”. The guides will be sent to community events with laptops to help people sign up for insurance online. They will work at food banks, shelters, churches and free clinics where the uninsured are likely to be. Also, the short time available for training raises questions about how prepared the workers will be to answer people’s questions about the different policies and government subsidies available. Community groups received the course materials for the 20-hour training only in early Sep. The work will be more difficult than what most other temporary employees, such as census workers, do. The navigators must listen to a family’s real-world story, assess its income, and figure out eligibility for the Medicaid program, which provides health care for the poor, or for new tax credits, each with its own complicated rules. We are trained tax professionals, and we have lots of questions, altho most of us have been studying it since at least June. What we do know is that the data base is going to be the most comprehensive single database ever, open to a wide range of unbonded users.

Obamacare Navigators Won’t Have to Pass Background Checks It is called the Federal Data Hub. Massive amounts of information gathered on every American are shared between government agencies; agencies ranging from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to the Department of Defense (DoD), Homeland Security (DHS) and Health and Human Services (HHS). The best part there is no opting out. So who all has access to this information and the bigger question does private information even exist anymore? The step toward truth is to inform. There is as we speak an army of new federal government employees being hired by the department of Health and Human Services. Why does HHS need all these new employees? The answer is simple, the massive new healthcare law, The Affordable Care Act is behind schedule and the Feds need to start signing Americans up for the health care exchanges as quickly as possible. So what kind of information is going to be collected? When individuals sign up for federal insurance exchanges, they are required to enter their personal information into a new Federal Data Hub. We are talking about information like medical records, Social Security numbers, tax information, and bank account information. This is done by allowing seven government agencies, including the IRS, Department of Justice, Social Security Administration and others, to share and verify information in order to determine eligibility for an insurance subsidy. In short, basically everything about you will be shared among multiple agencies. Remember, no actual agency can see or access any information. People working in those agencies do. So who, specifically, will be able to access this information? They are called Navigators. Men and women who are being hired to work for between $20 and $48 dollars an hour. Sounds like specialized work that will require highly trained individuals, but not so much. The requirements to become one of these navigators do not even include a high school diploma. Though these navigators will have access to just about every piece of personal information on Americans enrolled in this exchange, they are not even required to pass a background check. That is what the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has been told by HHS. Navigators will only have to take a 20 to 30 hour online course about how the 1,200 page Affordable Care Act (ACA) works. Interestingly, there is another role of these navigators that deserves a mention. There is more to the role of the Navigators than just signing Americans up for the healthcare exchange. These Navigators will also be responsible for registering Americans to vote. What you need to know is that when it comes to the National Data Hub, there is a bigger question here than just one of whether or not HHS navigators might be overstepping their role by registering voters with this personal information; a bigger question than whether or not the information compiled in this data hub is susceptible to fraud, or corrupt workers. The most important question is, "Does personal or private information exist anymore?" Chances are the feds would say no. After all, we know the NSA believes they have the right to read your emails and listen to your phone calls. So, why wouldn't they have the right to any and all of your private information, even your banking information? The federal apparatus that is nearly complete is telling you that you don't have the right to withhold anything about yourself and your life from government. But that is simply not true. The rights to privacy are all but gone in America today. Consider this, you do not belong to the state. Your money, your business, your private correspondence and conversations, your identity belongs to you and you alone. Those in power know it, but the population has forgotten it. It is time that we remember. Read more: http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/09/obamacare-navigators-wont-pass-background-checks/#ixzz2fsAiqPBk

I wish government could keep totally out of personal issues like marriage, personally. If it was simply a religious classification, things would be a lot simpler. Of course, for that to happen, you have to abolish the taxes that are impacted by marital status. Which is clearly not going to happen. I think adults should be able to form loving relationships as they please, as long as laws protect the children that are impacted by those relationships. That's where things get extremely complicated sometimes.

Good lawyer.

Joan, I've moved to CA now. But I agree, CA is different. But I don't understand one thing. We've been told over and over that sexual orientation is not a choice, but an inherent fact. So how, then, can it be an off-and-on thing? I find the concept of bi much harder to understand.

Yes, seems like she should at least lose her pension, a small 'save' for the taxpayers.

Yes, it does seem odd, but then the whole situation is a bit out of the ordinary. Still, it should not ever happen, because if they are homosexuals, they would not then want to make a 'straight' marriage anyway.

Nope, once married, anywhere, you must get a divorce before you are legal to marry again. Can't have it both ways, once you get married ANYWHERE you are not free to marry again, absent a divorce.

love that one, he's having so much fun.

I find them various places on the internet, and when I see one I like I save it.

I expect the feds will get their act together and redo the law that was thrown out, don't you?

I imagine our CA members have more to contribute to this thread, and will be interested in their input myself.