Hawaii’s Jobless Rate Up Last Month

According to Biz Journals, last month Hawaii has a jobless rate of 2.6%. The rate is one of the lowest in the nation, but it’s up from only 2.3% one year ago. The increase has prompted the Labor Department to include Hawaii among the states with "statistically significant" changes in the jobs picture. Nationally, the unemployment rate was 4.6 percent.

Treasury Chooses AT&T for $250 Million Contract

A few days ago the IRS announced on behalf of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, that they had selected AT&T as the network services provider for the Treasury Network (TNet) acquisition. The overall value of this contract is estimated at a whopping $270 million over it’s life. Back in December 2006, the Department of Treasury had decided to use the General Services Administration's Networx program to integrate its telecommunications requirements into a single Treasury-wide network infrastructure. This change allows them to utilize a fully managed network service, coupled with service level agreements and performance incentives to deliver secure voice, data and video communications. "Treasury is the first agency to have completed a fair opportunity decision on the Networx Universal contract and expect they will be the first agency to begin ordering service," said Karl Krumbholz, Director of Network Services Programs at the General Services Administration. "We are extremely pleased to have assisted Treasury in meeting their network service requirements and found them to have a very strong and highly professional technical and contracting team that was a pleasure to work with. We look forward to a positive and productive relationship with the Treasury TNet Program in the years ahead."

My Open Letter Pleading the IRS to Update Their Expense Standards

Last week I sent an open letter to Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department seeking changes to the Internal Revenue Service’s allowable standards policies. Their current practice of using outdated allowable standards, refusing to update those standards, and failing to accommodate in the face of clear and convincing evidence to the contrary is making the tax relief process unnecessarily difficult for taxpayers seeking IRS settlement.

The IRS has numerous relief programs available to help taxpayers that find them selves with large back tax liabilities. These programs, such as the Offer in Compromise or Installment Agreement, allow taxpayers to resolve their debt without having to pay down the entire amount at once. But when negotiate with the IRS you must complete a detailed financial analysis, which usually requires the help of a professional.

The financial analysis compares your gross monthly income with monthly allowable expenses to determine what, if any, payments you can reasonable afford. These allowable expenses do not include all monthly expenses, but only include expenses that the IRS deems necessary. The IRS sets these maximum allowable expenses include limits for food, housekeeping, clothing, personal care, entertainment, housing, utilities, vehicle, and vehicle operating expenses. A person’s household size, income, and geographical location all have an effect in determining each individual’s allowable amounts.

Unfortunately, the IRS calculates the allowable expenses for any given calendar year using statistical data gathered two years prior. Therefore, in any given year, the IRS uses two-year-old data to determine a taxpayer’s current and future allowable expenses, which in my opinion is flawed in the first place. Consider how much has the price of milk gone up over the past two years, constantly rising cost of gasoline. Using outdated statistics is unacceptable and I strongly suggest the IRS revisit the idea of this practice in the first place.

Then, as if using two-year-old data wasn’t bad enough, the IRS chose not to update its allowable expenses for 2007 whatsoever. The IRS is using statistical data from 2004 to determine the maximum amount taxpayers can claim as expenses in 2007, which is 100% unacceptable in my opinion. The IRS needs to update these requirements, which is why I have drafted a letter pleading that the IRS immediately update their allowable standards. Using three-year-old data to calculate a person’s allowable expenses is like kicking a taxpayer when they are down. This data needs to be updated.

With the letter I would also like to suggest that the U.S. Treasury Department reprimand the IRS Automated Collection Service Unit for its refusal to deviate from the allowable standards even in the face of strong evidence to support it. When a taxpayer can demonstrate that they are living within the average of their community, and the allowable standard is no longer reflective of that average, then the IRS employee must deviate to the taxpayer-requested amount. Failure to do so is in complete contradiction to the IRS’ own Internal Revenue Manual, which states, "National [and] local expense standards are guidelines. If it is determined a standard amount is inadequate to provide for a specific taxpayer's basic living expenses, allow a deviation."

In addition to drafting the letter, and sending it to various influential members of the government, my firm has also put out a press release on the issue, see Roni Deutch Sends Open Letter Urging the IRS to Update the Allowable Standards for Living Expenses. Hopefully my letter, and the issue in general, receives enough attention to convince the IRS to update their old standards.

New IRS Employer ID Application Process

Yesterday the IRS announced that they had launched a new Employer Identification Number application process on their website. According to said Richard Morgante, Commissioner of the IRS Wage & Investment Division, "This new and improved online application will reduce the time it takes taxpayers to get an EIN. Essentially they can get one while they wait –– within minutes." You can read the whole announcement on the IRS’s website.

IRS Unveils Foreclosures Section of IRS.gov

The IRS’ official website, IRS.gov has unveiled a new section of their website devoted to providing information to families who have had increased tax liabilities due to foreclosures. The IRS is letting families know that although "foreclosures can have tax consequences, special relief provisions can often reduce or eliminate the tax bite for financially strapped borrowers who lose their homes." However, providing relief after people are already in debt to the IRS doesn’t really solve the problem. The only thing in the IRS’ announcement that really seems to address a solution is when they say "the IRS urges struggling homeowners to consider their options carefully before giving up their homes through foreclosure." Unfortunately this is the best we will probably see any time in the near future as the only way to really fix the problem is for Congress to step in and change the tax code so that it no longer considers foreclosure relief taxable income.

New Video: 650 HP Corvette ZR1

Thanks to Fast Lane Daily I have attached a video of the new 650 HP Corvette ZR1 below. For most of the video the car is just cruising along and you can’t really get a feel for the vehicles power, but at the end there is a nice shot of the car accelerating to get onto a highway. Although a few pictures have been released, this is the first video of the new Corvette which is expected to be unveiled in the January Detroit Auto Show.

Congress Blaming IRS for Foreclosure Problems

The issue of tax liabilities resulting from a home foreclosure has really been getting a lot of attention. Just a few hours after I posted my latest featured blog, the tax consequences of foreclosures, I came across another blog entry on TaxProf Blog discussing who is to blame for the problem. On Friday, Congress sent a letter to the IRS asking them to provide relief for people with tax liabilities resulting from foreclosures, but even in the letter Congress admitted it would be easier to fix with new legislation. However, providing relief to taxpayers affected does not really solve the problem it merely provides a way for taxpayers to resolve their debt. What Congress needs to do is properly fix the tax code with new legislation so that the problem can be fixed before it starts.

Now Open: RDTC Tax Help Blog

I am proud to announce that the official Roni Deutch Tax Center website, RDTC.com, added a new blog to its content. The new blog, the RDTC Tax Help Blog, is full of useful information for any one who needs help with modern tax issues. The blog features categories you would expect to find in a tax resource center (frequently asked questions, glossary terms, articles, etc) but in an exciting new blog format. So be sure to head on over to RDTC.com to check out the new blog!

Tax Penalties of Foreclosures

As everyone in the country knows, the real estate and mortgage industry has been in trouble over the past few years. Thousands of families find themselves in financial trouble due to drastic rate increases in adjustable rate or interest only mortgages. Most people failed to consider the possibility of the huge increases upon entering the agreements. Only now, they find themselves with mortgage payments that they cannot afford to pay. Often, foreclosure is the only option available to these struggling families. However, there is one important aspect of a foreclosure that people forget – the resulting tax liability.

Foreclosure is always the last resort for someone struggling to make mortgage payments. People usually think it will be the end of their problems. However, the IRS considers debt canceled through foreclosure to be part of a taxpayer’s income. The IRS feels that it is entitled to the appropriate income taxes on that money. It also has access to every taxpayer’s financial information so it can ensure the appropriate taxes are paid. And as most of the country already knows, the IRS is very aggressive in collecting taxes that they know are outstanding and feel they deserve.

Forecasts indicate that over 20% of the loans made sine 2005 to people with weak credit using interest only or sub prime loans will end in foreclosure. Typically, these loans require little or no down payment and begin with extremely low payments that quickly rise with rate adjustments. Due to paying so little toward the principal amount and the lowering value of homes across the nation, people are increasingly finding themselves upside down in debt with huge mortgage payments.

"The tax laws are far too complex for borrowers to understand," claims Kurt Eggert, a professor at Chapman University Law School. "There are distinctions between selling a house for less than the loan amount and losing the house in foreclosure. It is crucial to get expert tax advice to sort through the bewildering complications. The whole concept can be counterintuitive – your home has declined in value and you lose it. Then the IRS says you owe tens of thousands in taxes because you got a windfall when the debt was forgiven."

Foreclosures are not the only way to end up with this type of tax liability though. The other is when a homeowner sells his or her house for less than the value of the mortgage and the bank will just forgive the difference. In those situations the homeowners is technically supposed to report that amount as income. This is known as a "1099 shortfall" which is an IRS policy that treats forgiven debts as income, even if a taxpayer has nothing to show for it.

So many people across the country are finding themselves in serious financial trouble. Lenders encouraged hundreds to refinance their houses for more than the home's fair-market-value. This was the case with Agnes Mouser. She is a 65-year-old widow who was hoping to pay off her credit card debt by taking out money with a refinance. "A real nice young man came out to see me," Mouser noted. "He could have been my grandson." The appraiser her bank sent out valued her mobile home at $43,500 in 2000 by using two new standard homes as benchmarks for calculating the value. The bank then agreed to let her borrow $34,730 against the value of her house. She paid the bank over $2,500 in closing costs and her loan carried an interest rate of nearly 15%.

When Mouser realized she could not meet her monthly payments in 2003, she contacted a lawyer who informed her that the county valued her home at less then half of what the bank had – only $19,970. Fortunately for Mouser, her bank forgave the difference. Unfortunately, the IRS did not. Soon thereafter, Mouser got a tax bill for over $10,000.

Thousands of taxpayers across the country are facing massive IRS tax liabilities with little chance of relief. With all the attention this issue is getting, Congress is finally beginning to consider legislation to help lower the burden on these people who are facing such huge financial problems. Senator Debbie Stabenow and Senator George Voinovich sponsored a bill to eliminate the federal rule that considers mortgage relief taxable income. The White House has already indicated support for Stabenow’s bill and President Bush claimed he hopes to include Stabenow’s ideas in his home ownership relief initiative. However, before a bill can go to the White House, Congress must approve it. Currently, no progress has been made on Stabenow’s bill, which has been sitting in Congress since May.

Sources:
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070911/OPINION01/709110311/1085/opinion
http://jalopnik.com/cars/frankfurt-auto-show/frankfurt-auto-show-bmw-x6-activehybrid-concepts-298085.php
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070821/news_1b21taxes.html

IRS Publishes Reminder About School Tax Deductions

Just a few weeks after the new school year started, the IRS is already putting out a press release reminding teachers, parents, and student alike about the valuable education related tax deductions. The IRS warns that it’s important to save your receipts and to keep detailed records so that it will be easier to take advantage of the valuable deductions on your next income tax returns.

"The start of the school year is a good time to remind parents, students and teachers to save all receipts related to tax-advantaged education expenses," said IRS Acting Commissioner Linda Stiff. "Good recordkeeping makes sense because it can help avoid missing a deduction or credit at tax time."

For more information on the education related expenses available to you, check out IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education. According to the IRS it can "help eligible parents and students understand the special rules that apply and decide which tax break to claim."

New September/October Tax Watch Now Available

Tax Foundation has released the newest version of their bimonthly tax policy newsletter, Tax Watch. The newsletter contains research and analysis on many current tax issues. Some of the featured articles include:

Paying for Public Schools: What's the Cost of Judicial Mandates?
U.S. Corporate Taxes Still Among World's Most Punitive
Fixing AMT without Raising Tax Rates
Study Finds Income Redistribution between Young, Middle-Age and Elderly

You can download the PDF of the newsletter for free by heading over to Tax Foundation.org, or if you are a member of the Tax Foundation you can request a hard copy version.

Court Ruling: Antarctica Is Not A Foreign Country

A recent U.S. Tax Court ruling declared that Antarctica is not a foreign country for purposes of the U.S. tax code. The opinion of the court claims that since Antarctica does not have it’s own government or tax system it is not a foreign country in the eyes of the IRS, and therefore citizens working in Antarctica are not entitled to the foreign earned income exclusion (FEIE). The FEIE typically allows taxpayers living and working outside the U.S. for at least an entire calendar year to exclude up to $82,400 of their foreign-earned income from their federal tax liabilities. Although the taxpayers still have to pay taxes to the foreign country they work in, but since Antarctica does not require tax payments this rule does not apply.

Poker Tournaments Must Withhold Taxes

According to Tax Foundation, the IRS has added a new regulation, 26 C.F.R. § 31.3402(q), requiring that sponsors of poker tournaments withhold for taxes 25% of a players' winnings above $5,000. The sponsors must then provide this information to the IRS so that they can properly determine the taxpayer’s income tax liability. The regulation is set to take effect on March 4th 2008. However online and offshore poker games are not subject to the regulation.

IRS Warns About Yet Another Email Scam

Yesterday the IRS put out a consumer warning on yet another email scam. According to the IRS, the two-step e-mail scam falsely promises people they will receive $80 for participating in an online customer satisfaction survey. The email masks itself as an email from the IRS, with a link to an IRS "Member Satisfaction Survey." "We have seen many e-mail scams using the IRS name," IRS Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support Linda Stiff noted. "The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers through e-mail. Taxpayers should always use caution when they receive unsolicited e-mails."

Hawaii Tourism Japan Markets Smoking In Japan

As part of a campaign to encourage Japanese smokers to visit the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaii Tourism Japan has begun marketing the phrase "Smoking With Aloha," along with 40,000 free ashtrays with a flower logo. The new plan is part of Hawaii Tourism Japan’s effort to correct the popular myth in Japan that Hawaii has a blanket no smoking rule. The tourism group says the misunderstanding has caused the number of Japanese visitor to sharply decrease. However, of the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii is not happy about the new campaign. "This is not really sending a message that Hawaii is concerned about good health," said interim president Kathy Harty. "We shouldn't give the message that aloha means smoking." Source: BBC

New Law Could Drastically Raise Taxes On Multinational Corporations

Pressure is growing in Washington to force a tax on foreign companies with subsidiaries in the United States who move funds back to their parent countries that have more favorable tax rates. These businesses currently pay next to nothing in taxes. In response, the United States House of Representatives has already voted to increase tax rates to as much as 30%. However, business groups are saying the measure could deter firms from investing in the United States. Multiple lobby groups state that about 60 multinational companies have already expressed concern about the proposal, which is likely to be considered by the United States Senate some time next month.

Democrats in Congress are regarding the proposal, known as the Doggett law, as a legitimate crackdown on cooperate tax avoidance. They are hoping the tax could raise an estimated $7 billion per year.

The goal of the proposal is to stop multinational corporations from going "treaty shopping" to find countries with more friendly tax laws. If approved by the Senate, the proposal could see firms paying a tax of up to 30% on interest payments and other capital flows between US operating countries and their parent businesses. This tax would be enforced even if the funds were being transferred to affiliates in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. This would disrupt a historically tax fee practice that was based upon existing "tax-free" treaties between the United States and these countries. Yet, experts claim that firms based in countries without treaties such as South Korea and Singapore would be hit even harder by the new tax.

The new tax was added as an amendment to a farm appropriations bill drafted earlier this year by a Texas congressman. The practice of adding new legislation as an amendment to another popular bill is common in Congress as a way of negotiating the approval of a law. When making such an amendment to a popular bill members of Congress can dramatically improve their chances of getting a controversial new law passed.

However, numerous Republicans fighting in the Democrat controlled Congress have said the proposals flew in the face of existing treaties with other countries, and were based on a misconceived idea that equates tax avoidance with seeking to find a competitive tax position. "These companies are not doing anything illegal," claims Rhian Chilcott, director of a lobbyist group in Washington. "They are taking advantage of a tax treaty that the United States negotiated years ago." He went on to explain that many local subsidiaries are already paying taxes and would effectively be taxed twice on their income.

However, the Democrats who support the law are emphasizing that the law will be specifically focused on preventing tax havens that are used to hide earning. They claim the goal of the law is not to target legitimate companies that are paying their taxes. Rather it will attempt to gain revenue from companies abusing the treaties to pay little or no taxes on their income. Many massive multinational corporations setup offices in locations that have tax-free treaties with the United States for the sole purpose of avoiding tax liabilities.

For example, if the legislation passed, Samsung’s South Korean conglomerate would not be eligible to make tax-free transfers from it’s United States division to it’s United Kingdom financing unit. Currently the company pays a zero tax rate on such transfers because of the Anglo-American treaty. Samsung’s United States subsidiary would instead be forced to pay the 15-cent tax rate that applies to all Korean companies on transfers from the United States. Unfortunately, no representative from Samsung would comment on the new law.

The measure would also dramatically hit Japanese carmakers with large United States operations. Nissan is one automaker that would likely see increased taxes as a result of the legislation. Several international companies are currently lobbying against the legislation including Panasonic, Unilever, Alcatel-Lucent, Swiss Re, and Allianz. An executive from an undisclosed global corporation said, "this is another signal that the United States is not a friendly place to do business. We do not need this. We can go to Canada or Mexico."

IRS Says Taxpayers Can Still Request Phone Refund

According to the IRS, thousands of taxpayers still have the opportunity to collect the one time phone tax refund. Nearly all phone customers, including cell phone customers, are eligible for the refund that over 92.1 million taxpayers, or 71.6% of all individual tax return filers, have already requested. The IRS is encouraging all taxpayers who haven’t filed their tax return yet or who obtained a tax-filing extension earlier this year to remember to include the tax credit when filing their returns. Taxpayers who don’t need to file a regular income-tax return can use Form 1040EZ-T, a special short form for requesting the refund.

GM May Have 60,000 Volt Electric Cars Out In 2011

Insiders at GM have revealed that the auto-maker may be planning to have over 60,000 of their Volt electric cars on the road within one year of launching in 2010. GM product chief Bob Lutz said he plans to sell the first Volt by late 2010, and expects to have prototypes ready for testing early next year. Insiders claim that production is set to produce 60,000 vehicles for the official launch, however GM spokesman Scott Fosgard declined to comment on the plans. ``If they {GM} were able to get 30,000 to 60,000 on the road in a year, it would be a huge leap in technology,'' claims Brett Smith, an alternative-fuel analyst in Ann Arbor, Michigan. ``It will be difficult, though, because there are so many barriers to making this happen.'' Source: Bloomberg.

IRS Clarifies: New Rule Will Not Punish Teachers

The IRS recently put out a release to clear up some ongoing confusion about the effects of a recent law change to the IRS’s deferred-compensation rules. They reassured teachers and other school employees that new deferred-compensation rules will not affect the way their pay is taxed during the upcoming school year. Under the law teachers and other employees are given an annualization election – meaning they are allowed to choose between being paid only during the school year and being paid over a 12-month period. Therefore if they choose the 12-month period, they are deferring part of their income from one year to the next. However, the IRS clarified that the new rules will not be applied to annualization elections for school years beginning before Jan. 1, 2008, so school districts and teachers will have time to make any changes that are needed.

Tropical Storm Flossie Brushes Hawaii

After much hype over the past week about "Hurricane Flossie," it was downgraded to a tropical storm earlier this morning. The National Weather Service downgraded the hurricane warning after it’s wind speeds dropped to 8 mph and the storm took a slightly more northern course than expected. The tropical storm brushed the coast of Hawaii’s Big Island last night, however no injuries were reported. Officials are still tracking the storm to ensure it does not cause any further damage. "It still has very large potential to come in," said Troy Kindred, administrator for the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency. "For whatever reason it has not done so so far. We'll monitor it until it is not a threat." For more information on the storm, check out Seattle Times.com.