B.A. Harris Blog

FAFSA and 2011 Tax Reporting

It’s that time of year again! Not only is it tax season but for those with college bound students it’s FAFSA reporting time! FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (www.fafsa.ed.gov). Colleges and Universities use the information submitted through FAFSA to determine your student’s eligibility for federal aid, including grants and some scholarships. Deadlines for priority consideration are as early as February 15th for some schools so there is an urgency to get the information necessary in order.

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Statistics on IRS Audits-Fiscal Year 2011

Individuals The IRS audited one in eight individuals with incomes over $1 million in fiscal year (FY) 2011. While the overall audit coverage rate for individuals remained steady at just over one percent, the audit coverage rate for higher-income individuals experienced growth in FY 2011. The IRS selected 1,564,690 individual returns for examination in FY 2011 compared to 1,581,394 individual returns selected for examination in FY 2010. Although there was a slight decline in the number of individual returns selected for audit in FY 2011, the overall audit coverage rate remained at 1.

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Health Care Legislation Update

The Affordable Health Care Act passed into law in 2010 had a number of provisions that impact taxes for both individuals and business.  In the 18 months since the law was passed a number of these provisions have been altered, so we would like to take a minute to update where items currently stand.. Small Employer Health Credit  Effective for 2010, employers with fewer than 25 full-time-equivalents can receive a credit of up to 35% of employee health insurance premiums paid through 2013, provided the employer covers more than 50% of the cost of the premiums.

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S Corporation Health Insurance Premiums

As the year comes to a close, we want to remind our S corporation clients to take the necessary steps to be eligible for the health insurance premiums paid deduction. This deduction for 2% or greater shareholder/employees is an important deduction but there are some rules that must be followed to insure its availability. Hopefully, these thoughts will assist you in preparing your year-end payroll returns. S corporations are subject to special rules regarding employee fringe benefits.

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Documentation for Charitable Contributions

Yesterday I asked my daughter to name three things she learned during the day. She began with a statement about what makes plants appear green (from biology class) and followed that with some obscure fact from math class. It was her third statement, however, that caught my interest: “Always get the receipt!” As it turns out, she had fueled her car after school using her debit card and she forgot to request the gas receipt to print out.

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