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. 

2014 Tax Planning - 5 Tips

Tax planning very rarely makes it on people’s new year’s resolution lists. But perhaps 2014 should be the year you vow to achieve a greater level of understanding about your taxes and to properly organize and plan for your liability, according to Fox Business.

Not only would this pledge make your life easier come tax season, it could also end up keeping more money in your bank account.

Check out some tips to get rolling on fulfilling this resolution:

1. Set up your 2014 tax file. This could be an electronic file in which you scan documents and transactions throughout the year that will affect your tax return, or a folder or bin that holds the information.

The beauty of an electronic file is that at tax time you can simply e-mail it to your tax professional, who will likely also maintain the file in the event of an audit. Just make sure you have adequate back up of your data in case something goes wrong. Adding notes on the tax documents to aid your tax pro in understanding the transaction can help the filing process.

-Click for more-

Obamacare Related Tax Questions Challenge Tax Preparers

BY JEFF STIMPSON

The Affordable Care Act -- along with its accompanying enrollment Web site and new taxes and tax breaks -- has opened up a host of questions for the taxpaying public, ramping up the usual levels of pre-tax season taxpayer confusion.

“Forty of the 500 provisions in the ACA amend or add provision to the U.S. Tax Code,” reads a primer from The Income Tax School. “Most of the changes that are to be implemented in 2014 have to do with healthcare coverage [that] requires that each person either have the minimum essential coverage, qualify for an exemption or make a payment when filing his or her federal income tax return.”

Among the new taxes is a 3.8 percent surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single), and a 0.9 percent additional Medicare tax.

Click here to read the rest of the story from Accounting Today

If you need more information, contact Neikirk, Mahoney & Smith CPAs at (502) 896-2999.

Inside the Biggest Insider Trading Case in American History

Palatial mansions, multimillion-dollar artwork and a blockbuster financial scandal for a reclusive Wall Street billionaire

By Sam Gustin

When the FBI showed up at Mathew Martoma’s multimillion-dollar Florida mansion shortly before dawn on a November morning in 2011, the former SAC Capital hedge fund trader fainted on his front lawn. 

Read more: SAC Capital: Former Trader Mathew Martoma Faces Insider Trading Trial | TIME.com http://business.time.com/2014/01/06/martoma-sac-capital/#ixzz2pjo2JJdP

Do you need help with your taxes or other financial matters? Call Neikirk, Mahoney & Smith today at 502-896-2999 or contact us at http://nmscpas.com.

Time To Exonerate Edward Snowden?

Here's the editorial from the New York Times in which they made their weak case for granting clemency to Edward Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor who stole a trove of highly classified documents after he became disillusioned with the agency’s voraciousness. 
Read it and comment!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/opinion/edward-snowden-whistle-blower.html?src=recg

IRS Cracking Down on Fraudulent Minnesota Tax Advisors

Tax Cheats Beware! -

A 63-count indictment has been unsealed charging Chatonda Khofi, Ishmael Kosh, Amadou Sangaray and Francis Saygbay in a conspiracy to defraud the IRS.

The indictment alleges that Primetime Tax Services Inc., where Khofi was CEO and Kosh and Sangaray managers, prepared false returns. According to court documents, Khofi, Kosh, Sangaray and Saygbay conspired among themselves and with others to prepare and file false individual returns for clients. Some of these returns reported false dependents, false deductions, false Schedule Cs and false wage income, resulting in inflated refunds.

As part of the scheme, court documents alleged, the defendants prepared and filed false Minnesota state returns for clients that contained the same or similar false information as reported on the federal returns. From 2007 to 2009, Primetime filed more than 2,000 customer federal income tax returns with the IRS.

The indictment further charges each defendant with multiple counts of aggravated ID theft and aiding and assisting in the preparation of false individual returns. The aggravated ID theft charges stem from the defendants’ alleged use of the names and Social Security names of actual persons to falsely claim as dependents on clients’ individual returns. According to the indictment, the defendants also accompanied some clients to check-cashing businesses to cash their falsely inflated refund checks, then demanded a portion of the cashed check in addition to tax prep fees already collected.

The indictment further alleges that in some instances the defendants withdrew cash from debit cards containing clients’ refunds without permission, again in addition to the prep fees already collected. 

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum of five years in prison for the conspiracy count and three years of prison for each count of aiding in the preparation of a false return. The ID theft counts carry a mandatory two-year sentence. This was also provided by Accounting Today!

Make 2014 a banner year for your company, too, by trusting your financials to Neikirk, Mahoney & Smith, PLLC. Call today!