Tax News

November 3, 2020 10:54 pm

Employers may offer employees a reimbursement plan to pay for certain costs not covered by group health insurance. An Excepted Benefit Health Reimbursement Arrangement (EBHRA) can cover a set dollar a...

November 3, 2020 10:51 pm

More than 70 million Social Security beneficiaries will receive a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 1.3% starting with the December 2020 benefits, which are payable in January 2021. This COLA adjust...

November 3, 2020 10:48 pm

The IRS is including barcodes to CP14 and CP14 IA notices sent to taxpayers who have unpaid taxes (IR-2020-233). These notices are the first contact made with taxpayers who have a balance due.  Scann...

November 3, 2020 10:47 pm

Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Accounts was added to the law in 2014 to enable tax-free savings accounts to be set up for people with disabilities that occur or occurred before age 26 that ...

October 6, 2020 12:08 am

A sale or exchange of livestock (other than poultry) held by a taxpayer for draft, breeding, or dairy purposes in excess of the number that would be sold following the taxpayer’s usual business prac...

October 6, 2020 12:05 am

The IRS has released extensive questions and answers that address some changes made by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act and the Bipartisan American Min...

October 6, 2020 12:01 am

Employers that want to use a per diem rate to reimburse employees’ lodging, meals, and incidental expenses on business trips within the continental U.S. (CONUS) can use either the IRS’s high-low m...

October 5, 2020 11:54 pm

The IRS has announced that the interest rates applicable to overpayments and underpayments of federal taxes are the same in the fourth quarter of 2020 as they were in the third quarter of 2020 (Rev. R...

August 27, 2020 10:32 pm

About 3 million Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, are filed annually. The IRS announced that Form 1040-X can now be filed electronically using commercial tax-filing software (IR-...

August 27, 2020 10:31 pm

Federal law limiting the itemized deduction for state and local taxes to $10,000 ($5,000 for married persons filing separately) prompted a number of states, including Connecticut, New Jersey, and New ...

August 27, 2020 10:29 pm

The IRS reports statistics on its filing season (https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/filing-season-statistics-for-week-ending-july-24-2020). Through July 24, 2020, 152,875 income tax returns were filed for i...

August 27, 2020 10:27 pm

The statute of limitations is the period in which the IRS has to audit your return or in which you can file a claim for refund. If this period expires, the IRS usually can’t audit you (there is an e...

August 27, 2020 10:25 pm

Dependent care flexible spending accounts (FSAs) set the deadline for submitting requests for reimbursement. For example, a company’s plan may limit reimbursements to requests submitted within 30 da...

August 27, 2020 10:24 pm

The IRS released the 2019 Data Book (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p55b.pdf), which is a snapshot of IRS activities for the government’s fiscal year from October 1, 2018, through September 30, 201...

July 30, 2020 12:17 am

Usually, the IRS releases a list of scams early in the tax season to warn taxpayers of potential risks. This year, the list was released after the filing deadline (IR-2020-160). The list puts special ...

July 30, 2020 12:15 am

An executive received a $500,000 interest-free loan from a company that hired her and had her relocate from Massachusetts to California. The money was meant to help her buy a home in the new location,...

July 30, 2020 12:14 am

If you buy a vehicle in 2020 for business, depreciation cannot exceed set dollar limits announced by the IRS (Rev. Proc. 2020-37). For 2020, these limits aren’t triggered unless the cost of the vehi...

July 30, 2020 12:12 am

Individuals who do not have bank accounts or credit cards can pay their federal income taxes with cash through IRS-approved partners. The list of these partners has been expanded (IR-2020-137). It now...

July 30, 2020 12:10 am

The new National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins today released her first report to Congress (as required by law), identifying taxpayer challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the CARES Act, ...

June 30, 2020 11:19 pm

The CARES Act provided numerous ways in which to handle loans and distributions from qualified retirement plans and IRAs for those impacted by COVID-19 who needed funds. The IRS has provided guidance ...

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Tax Glossary

Modified adjusted gross income (MAGI)

This is generally adjusted gross income increased by certain items such as tax-free foreign earned income. MAGI usually is used to determine phaseouts of certain deductions and credits.

More terms