An Analysis of the New American Opportunity Credit (CPA Journal) – Existing law contains a number of tax benefits to help defray the soaring costs of higher education.   Planning For The Estate Taxs Return (Forbes) – Do not be fooled by the estate tax lapse of 2010. It is true that the estate tax–which imposed a 45% tax [...]

Internal Control: Test Your Knowledge (Journal of Accountancy) -Today many companies recognize the desirability as well as the requirement to have an effective system of internal control. Yet, designing and implementing a cost-effective system of internal control is a daunting, if not overwhelming, task.   Trade Properties To Keep The Tax Man At Bay (Forbes) – Like-kind exchanges [...]

Toyota Facing US Criminal Probe As Congressional Hearings Begin (FOX) – Toyota’s top U.S. executive, under withering questioning Tuesday from a Congressional panel, acknowledged that the Japanese car maker has not fully determined why some of its models experienced sudden and unintended acceleration.   Obama Raises Cadillac Tax Threshold in Effort to Revive Health Care Bill (BNA) – The [...]

Obama Proposes $950 Billion Health Bill (Reuters) – President Barack Obama made a last-ditch bid to revive his stalled healthcare overhaul on Monday with a plan to make insurance more affordable and to bolster government authority to regulate premium hikes.   New Senator Helps Democrats Advance Jobs Bill (Reuters) – A modest job-creation bill advanced in the Senate on [...]

Ponzis and Pyramids: What CPAs Need to Know (CPA Journal Online) – Bernard L. Madoff. Patrick R. Bennett. John McNamara. Nicholas Cosmo. These names have two things in common: First, they were all residents of New York State, and, second, all were accused of operating Ponzi schemes. CPAs should learn lessons from these scandals and apply [...]

Toward a (More) Paperless Tax Practice (Journal of Accountancy) – Nearly all CPA firms prepare tax returns electronically. However, many still also use some old-fashioned methods, such as sending out tax organizers manually. Here are tips to more fully realize what it means to go paperless.   Fed Raises Discount Rate; Fed Funds Rate Unchanged (FOX) – The [...]

IRS Says: Top 400 Earners in U.S Averaged $345 Million in 2007 (Bloomberg) – The figures for 2007, the last year of an economic expansion, show that the average income reported by the top 400 earners more than doubled from $131.1 million in 2001   Breaking Into Business Valuation (Journal of Accountancy) – An aging population, increased regulation [...]