May 03, 2011
Andrew Presti
Blog Posts
0 CommentsMay 2nd, 2011 It just got a little harder for banks to seize money from accounts holding federal benefits like Social Security and disability checks. A new rule issued by the Treasury Department and a group of other federal agencies takes effect Monday and aims to protect struggling retirees and others who depend on government […]
Read moreMay 02, 2011Andrew PrestiBlog Posts0 CommentsApril 29th, 2011 The economy slowed sharply in the first three months of the year, and more people sought unemployment benefits last week, the second rise in three weeks. The economy in the first quarter was hampered as high gas prices cut into consumer spending, bad weather delayed construction projects and the federal government slashed […]
Read moreApril 29, 2011Andrew PrestiBlog Posts0 CommentsMay 2011 In Revenue Ruling 2010-25, the IRS ruled that a taxpayer can deduct as qualified residence interest up to $1.1 million of the debt securing the purchase of a taxpayer’s principal residence. While personal interest is nondeductible, qualified residence interest, which includes both interest on acquisition indebtedness and home-equity indebtedness, is generally deductible. IRC […]
Read moreApril 28, 2011Andrew PrestiBlog Posts0 CommentsApril 25th, 2011 The Internal Revenue Service is taking steps to stop tax preparers with criminal tax convictions or permanent injunctions from preparing tax returns. This is just one of several recent moves to improve the quality and oversight of the tax preparation industry. More than 700,000 tax preparers nationwide have registered with the IRS […]
Read moreApril 27, 2011Andrew PrestiBlog Posts0 CommentsApril 25th, 2011 U.S. states’ deficits in their employee retirement systems widened by 26 percent in fiscal 2009 as governments were stung by investment losses and failed to pay enough into their pension funds, a study found. The deficits, or the difference between the retirement and health-care benefits states have promised their employees and the […]
Read moreApril 26, 2011Andrew PrestiBlog Posts0 CommentsApril 22nd, 2011 The Internal Revenue Service April 21 offered guidance on how taxpayers should report their research and experimentation expenses when filling out the Schedule M-3, which the nation’s largest taxpayers must use to reconcile their tax and book income. In general, IRS said that taxpayers who use a current deduction method of accounting […]
Read moreApril 25, 2011Andrew PrestiBlog Posts0 CommentsApril 20th, 2011 The list of members of a panel to be headed by Vice President Biden to tackle the government’s long-term deficit was rounded out further April 19 by the appointment of members of the Republican leadership in the House and Senate. Separately, President Obama, appearing at a community college in Virginia, said raising […]
Read moreApril 22, 2011Andrew PrestiBlog Posts0 CommentsApril 19th, 2011 If you haven’t noticed it at the gas pump, you’ve seen it in the grocery store. The prices of some products, most notably food and oil, are going up. In March, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the average change in prices over time of goods and services, rose 0.5 percent. […]
Read moreApril 21, 2011Andrew PrestiBlog Posts0 CommentsApril 19th, 2011 President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, paid $453,770 in federal income taxes in 2010 on $1.7 million in income, according to tax returns the White House released on Monday to coincide with the national income-tax filing deadline. Mr. Obama’s income and tax payments fell sharply from 2009, mainly because of declining […]
Read moreApril 20, 2011Andrew PrestiBlog Posts0 CommentsApril 18th, 2011 With the tax deadline arriving tonight, the Internal Revenue Service announced taxpayers set a record this weekend for e-filed tax returns, topping 100 million for the first time. The IRS saw a late surge of e-filed returns over the weekend. By early Monday morning, the IRS had received nearly 101 million e-filed […]
Read more