Inverting Companies Regain Contract Eligibility

In an article published in Bloomberg News, Zachary R. Mider reports that the Obama administration quietly handed a victory to U.S. companies that avoid taxes by claiming a foreign address, suggesting that virtually all of them are still eligible for government contracts.

The Department of Homeland Security last year endorsed a legal memorandum that argued in part that a 2002 law banning such companies from federal contracts was invalid, according to a copy of the memo obtained by Bloomberg News. Although President Barack Obama later began publicly criticizing the tax maneuvers known as inversions, there’s no sign that he has reversed the department’s decision.

The March 2013 memo was submitted to Homeland Security by one of the country’s largest inverted companies, the manufacturer Ingersoll-Rand Plc. The company argued in part that U.S. trade agreements with foreign governments invalidated the law that would prohibit it from winning federal contracts.

You can ask a real person what this means by calling Neikirk, Mahoney & Smith CPAs at 502-896-2999.

To read the full article, click here.

The House Committee reports that the IRS had a political agenda in regulating tax-exempt organizations

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform reports that the IRS had a political agenda in regulating tax-exempt organizations

Read more here - http://nmscpas.com/house-committee-oversight-and-government-reform-reports-irs-had-political-agenda-regulating-tax

IRS preparing to muzzle tea party groups

Now that we’re into an all-important midterm election year, the Obama administration is turning up the heat on tea party groups and other conservative organizations, the very people who many say caused the Democrats’ “shellacking” in the 2010 midterms.

The Obama administration is using the ultimate agency of intimidation — the Internal Revenue Service — to give Democrats a leg up in what is predicted to be a difficult year for the party.

The IRS has proposed new rules for 501(c)(4) organizations that strike at the the heart of the tea party’s very existence — political activism. 

The laundry list of provisions the IRS proposes that 501(c)(4) organizations must comply with includes, according to WND:

• Prohibit using words like “oppose,” “vote,” “support,” “defeat,” and “reject.”
•  Prohibit mentioning, on its website or on any communication (email, letter, etc.) that would reach 500 people or more, the name of a candidate for office, 30 days before a primary election and 60 days before a general election.
• Prohibit mentioning the name of a political party, 30 days before a primary election and 60 days before a general election, if that party has a candidate running for office.
•  Prohibit voter registration drives or conducting a non-partisan “get-out-the-vote drive.”

Click Here to Read the Rest of the Article and the Additional IRS Provisions

Article by Michael Dorstewitz - BizPac Review.