Qualified Plans

Bob Keebler discusses early distributions from IRAs and Qualified Plans. He talks about both federal and state "penalties" (i.e. the additional tax). Bob distinguishes between public employees, corporations, and money in an IRA. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

Bob Keebler discusses crucial and time-senstive issues such as excess accumulations, excess contributions, late recharacterizations, and missed 60 day roll-overs. Even if you are in the middle of tax season, you need to stop and listen to this short and timely commentary crammmed with tax traps and their solutions. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

Bob Keebler discusses net unrealized appreciation. Only available for clients with appreciated employer securities in their pension or profit-sharing plan, this is an incredible income tax planning opportunity. Hear the magic of turning ordinary income into capital gains. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This podcast is the sequel to a November 2006 podcast on the same case--that of Kadillak v. Commissioner where an individual who was caught by the "dot bomb" crash of the technology stock of his former employer attempted to mitigate the damage caused by his ISO exercise and 83(b) election made at the height of the craze. A year later, Mr. Kadillak was no longer employed by the organization, the stock price had tanked, and when he sold the stock that he didn't have to surrender got stuck with a $3,000 per year AMT capital loss deduction (probably for lifetime) to "offset" a large prior year AMT liability. The Ninth Circuit has now ruled on the case and, unfortunately for Mr. Kadillak, agreed with the Tax Court's decision. We look at the Section 83(b) election, it's downside risk that Mr. Kadillak obtained "up close and personal" experience with, and some general observations on counseling clients about the "what if" problem when they are sure they know what the future will hold. The materials are available a

This PodCast is the first of what will be a series of two on the proposed regulations for preparer penalties. Considering the length of the regulations and podcast, the first hour is in this file to listen to and digest, with part two to be posted later. The materials are at http://edzollars.com/2008-06-23_Penalty.pdf . . This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This PodCast pertains to a case involving a failure to meet SEP rules. Simplified employee pensions (SEPs) are a popular retirement plan for extremely small businesses, with one of the key attractions being that don't require many of the formalities of regular qualified plans. But that has led to taxpayers treating them too informally, and in this case(Brown v. Commissioner, TC Summary 2008-56) a taxpayer discovered the hard way what can be the consequences of failing to faithfully follow the simplified rules for this type of plan. The materials for this podcast can be found at http://www.edzollars.com/2008-05-26_SEP_Issue.pdf . This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This PodCast concerns the issue of whether "7502(c) provides the exclusive means to prove timely filing of a document by a taxpayer. What the Third Circuit had to say, the IRS didn't like hearing. In the case of Philadelphia Marine Trade Ass'n.-Int'l Longshoremen's Association Pension Fund et al. v. Commissioner, 2008 TNT 74-16 the Third Circuit held that the reports of the death of the common law mailbox rule were, in the words of Mark Twain, greatly exaggerated. That places the Third Circuit in the same camp with the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits, and opposed to the positions of the Second and Sixth Circuits. The materials for this podcast are located at http://www.edzollars.com/2008-04-21_Mailbox.pdf. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This PodCast concerns guidance for Preparers of tax returns. The IRS celebrated the end of 2007 by releasing three Notices late on December 31 that provide guidance on the application of the revised preparer penalties contained in the Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007 that was passed last May.  The IRS had previously released interim relief in Notice 2007-54, but that relief was set to expire as 2007 did.The centerpiece of this guidance is Notice 2008-13, which provides interim guidance on applying the "6694 preparer penalty standards.  The interim rules are not nearly as onerous as many had feared they would be, and need to be incorporated rapidly into our practices as tax season approaches.  Note, as well, that this guidance applies only until the IRS releases revised regulations, something the notice indicates they plan to do during 2008.The materials for this podcast can be downloaded at http://www.edzollars.com/2008-01-01_6694.pdf .  Those materials include the full

This PodCast examines a new set of standards released by the American Institute of CPAs' Consulting Services Executive Committee that will take effect for engagements entered into after January 1, 2008.  The Statement on Standards for Valuation Services No. 1, Valuation of a Business, Business Ownership Interest, Security, or Intangible Asset can have an impact on tax practice where the value of an asset covered by this standard has an impact on a tax issue. CPAs will need to be aware of when this standard may become applicable and the options when that might take place.  Those that work with CPAs in tax practice, include tax attorneys who are working with the client's CPA, need to be aware of this change and the impact of this standard on both what the CPA can do and the cost of having the CPA perform certain functions. The materials for this podcast can be downloaded from http://www.edzollars.com/2007-07-04_SSVS.pdf . This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http:/

This Podcast provides guidance on Circular 230 issues.  The IRS on April 23 released guidance on the application of monetary penalties to practitioners, their employers, firms and related entities for violations of Circular 230 as authorized by the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 This guidance gives some insight into the IRS's views on how they will make use of this new enforcement tool, as well as some indication of what the IRS might view as an appropriate quality control system for a tax practice.  If, as expected, SSTS No. 9 goes from an exposure draft to a final standard for CPAs, this document may be one to consider when a CPA firm sets out its tax quality control standards. And given the existence of the 'aspirational' standard for best practices in Circular 230 Section 10.33, the importance of SSTS No. 9 may not be limited to CPAs. The materials for this podcast can be found at http://www.edzollars.com/2007-04-24_Monetary_Penalties.pdfThere's an excellent book on this topic by Jonathan Bl

This Podcast is Part II in a discussion on Insurable Interest between Steve Leimberg and Randy Zipse of the John Hancock. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This Podcast is the first in a 3 part series on Insurable Interest.  In this Podcast, Steve Leimberg and Randy Zipse of the John Hancock discuss the underlying philosophy and legal background.  In the following Podcasts, Steve and Randy will cover more specific situations such as the insurable interest between spouses, unmarried couples, parents and children, partners and their partnerships, and employers and employees. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This PodCast covers the issue of whether an individual is or isn't considered an active participant in a retirement plan.The determination can be complex, as the taxpayer found out in the case of Colombell v. Commissioner, TC Summary 2006-184.  As the taxpayer discovered, the mere fact she was not earning any benefit under the plan (nor was she likely ever to do so) did not mean she was not an active participant, as the regulations define that term.The materials can be downloaded from http://edzollars.com/2006-12-02_Participant.pdf . This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This podcast covers a number of recent tax developments, including dealing with the burning issue of whether a preparer must sign the client's copy of the return, a recent case involving again the question of what is alimony and the IRS's recent reprieve from the requirement that nonqualified deferred compensaton plans be in compliance with the (as of yet) not issued final regualtions by January 1, 2007.Documents for this podcast are available at http://edzollars.com/2006-10-06_ThisandThat.pdf . This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This PodCast  deals with the continuing problems of employee related options that were exercised when the stock was at a high price, but whose price collapsed before the tax was due.  The case involved was the case of Racine v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2006-162.The materials can be downloaded at http://edzollars.com/2006-08-19_Margins_and_Options.pdf . This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This PodCast is about taxpayer advice and its reliability and its credibility in court.  Taxpayers get their advice from a lot of sources, and we often end up having to defend our own advice against other sources.  This week we have two cases that show that all advice is not created equal.  In the case of Lehrer v. Commissioner (TC Memo 2006-156) a taxpayer learned the hard way that selecting a preparer predominantly on which one computes the lowest tax is not necessarily the best way to end up well advised.And the case of Diem v. Commissioner (TC Summary 2006-121) is useful for those clients that will try and check your advice by calling the IRS for an answer and then reporting the IRS's answer to you (so, you know, you don't have to do any work on that one).  Mr. Diem was clobbered when it turned out an IRS employee's assurance that the program offered by his employer would be treated just like the workers compensation style claim he was giving up for tax purposes turned out not to be so

This PodCast is about the Section 72(t) penalty tax on premature distributions and the question, "Is a distribution made to a surviving spouse that was rolled to her IRA but can be traced to her deceased spouse's IRA account eligible for the death benefit exception to Section 72(t)?"  Considering a nearly $100,000 penalty was on the table, the taxpayer in the case of Gee v. Commissioner (127 TC No. 1) certainly hoped the Tax Court would answer "Yes".  Unfortunately for her, the Tax Court answered in the negative.  We look at the facts of her case, as well as the whole question of whether a surviving spouse should elect to treat an IRA as his/her own or take it as a beneficiary.The materials can be downloaded at http://www.edzollars.com/2006-07-29_IRA_Spouse.pdf . This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This Podcast deals with the 'premature distributions' penalty tax and its exceptions. Taxpayers who take distributions from retirement plans prior to attaining age 59 1/2 have to deal with a confusing set of rules that makes some distributions subject to and some distributions exempt from the 10 percent addition to tax under 72(t).  Two recent cases illustrate both the traps that exist for the unwary and how a taxpayer managed to convince the Tax Court he qualified for an exception from the penalty despite IRS arguments to the contrary.The materials for the podcast can be downloaded from http://edzollars.com/2006-05-13_Premature.pdf. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This PodCast covers tax issues relating to mail the IRS sends to the wrong address, mail that never makes it to the taxpayer, or mail that arrives late.  Much of the information that taxpayers need to deal with their tax obligation arrives via the U.S. mail.   While we've previously considered what happens when the taxpayer attempts to send documents to the IRS that the IRS claims never arrived, this PodCast considers a case and a letter ruling involving mail that was sent to an address the taxpayer did not currently live at when the mail arrived.Since those of us who do compliance work now have a real need to relax, the podcast also has a brief off-topic discussion of an additional internet audio option--internet radio with discussions about four different stations.The materials for this podcast can be found athttp://edzollars.com/2006-04-22_Lost_in_Transit.pdf This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, b

This week's podcast pertains to the potential overuse of Circular 230 disclaimers.  It arose from a discussion that began on the California Society of CPAs TaxTalk group on Yahoo about the widespread use of Circular 230 disclaimers. There seems to be an unfortunately false belief among many in the professions involved that a standard disclaimer eliminates any and all issues related to the revisions last summer to Circular 230. The podcast discusses both the issues outside of Circular 230 that can arise from the indiscriminate use of this disclaimer, as well as those cases under the covered opinion rules when the disclaimer does not absolve the professional from having to issue a covered opinion. The materials can be found at this link: http://edzollars.com/2006-03-03_Disclaimers.pdf We also discuss briefly some technology matters, including a quick discussion of why it may be useful to listen to Steve Gibson's Security Now podcast. To check out what's available go to: http://grc.com/securityno