During our seminars, we discussed that income from real estate investment trusts (REITs) and publicly-traded partnerships is generally eligible for the new qualified business income deduction under §199A. During this upcoming tax season, practitioners should be on the alert for such income being reported to clients. Dividends from REITs are generally reported on Forms 1099-DIV. Box 5 of t...
As discussed in our last post, on January 18, 2019, the Treasury Department issued final regulations governing the qualified business income deduction under §199A. In addition the IRS issued Notice 2019-7, which provides a safe harbor whereby a real estate activity will be treated as rising to the level of a trade or business, which is required for such an activity to be eligible for the §199...
On January 18, 2019, the Treasury Department issued final regulations governing the qualified business income deduction under §199A. For tax years that end in calendar year 2018, taxpayers can rely on the final regulations or on the proposed regulations (in their entirety) that were issued in August of 2018. In many ways, the final regulations mirror the proposed regulations. However, the...
The IRS issued Notice 2019-11 earlier today, January 16, 2019. The notice provides possible relief for some individual taxpayers who may have insufficient withholding due to the new tax law that was enacted on December 22, 2017. In response to the new law, in January 2018, the IRS issued revised withholding tables that generally reduced the amount of withholding for federal income taxes durin...
The IRS has released the final version of the 2018 Form 1040 (and its new supporting schedules). The format mirrors that of the draft version that had been previously released. Usually, the issuance of the final version of the form is not a significant event. However, this year marks such a dramatic change in the format of the form that it creates an unusual urgency for practitioners. A...
The IRS has released the 2019 standard mileage rate. For business travel, it is 58 cents per mile (up from 54½ cents in 2018). For medical-related travel, it is 20 cents per mile (up from 18 cents in 2018). The rate for charitable use of an automobile is not subject to adjustment, and it remains 14 cents per mile.
The 2019 federal estate and gift tax exclusion will be $11,400,000 (up from $11,180,000 in 2018). The New York estate tax exclusion has not increased to match the new federal level. (There is no gift tax in New York State.) In 2019, the estate tax exclusion will increase to $5,740,000 (up from $5,250,000 for decedents who die on or after April 1, 2017 and before January 1, 2019).
New York State has a new requirement for all employers in New York State to implement a program to prevent sexual harassment. As part of this requirement, employers must adopt a sexual harassment prevention policy that includes a complaint form for an employee to report alleged incidents of sexual harassment. In addition, employers must provide employees with sexual harassment prevention tr...
An earlier post discussed the new format of Form 1040 for the 2018 tax year. The first draft form with the new format was issued at the end of June 2018. The new format has significantly fewer lines on Form 1040 itself. However, many items will now be reported on 6 separate schedules that flow into Form 1040. At the end of September 2018, the IRS released draft instructions for the 2018 ...
As discussed in the post on March 20, 2018, the IRS had made a retroactive reduction to the dollar limit for certain contributions to a health savings account (HSA). After making this reduction, the IRS later changed the limit back to the originally-announced amount. As a reminder: An HSA allows taxpayers (or their employers) with high deductible health insurance plans to contribute funds on...
