U.S.A. 2011 Key Budget Highlights

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• Extend for another year the broadest tax cut in American history – the Making Work Pay Tax Credit – for 110 million American families, including 8.4 million families in Texas.
• Increase the child care tax break by providing a 35 percent credit for middle-class families earning up to $85,000 a year and at least some additional credit to families earning up to $113,000. Families could claim up to $3,000 in expenses for one child or $6,000 for two children. Many middle-class families with two children will see value of the credit nearly double, from $1,200 to $2,100.
•  Expand child care funding for working parents by adding $1.6 billion to the Child Care Development Fund, the largest one-year increase in 20 years, to serve an additional 235,000 children. For Texas, the Budget includes $603.1 million in child care assistance.
• Deploy future TARPfunds to assist homeowners threatened with foreclosure and small businesses needing access to affordable credit.

Source US Govt.- Dept. Treasury

Next year's economy: Good enough may be as good as it gets | McClatchy

Next year's economy: Good enough may be as good as it gets McClatchy

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Federal tax Deposits

Effective January 1, 2011, all federal tax deposits (FTDs) must be made by electronic funds transfer (EFT).  So, paper coupons may no longer be used to submit federal depository taxes, such as employment taxes.

Source IRS

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Report foreign bank account to the IRS

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If you own or have authority over a foreign financial account, including a bank account, brokerage account, mutual fund or other type of financial account, you may be required to report the account yearly to the Department of the Treasury. Source IRS

Health Care tax issues- Flexible spending new rules

The Affordable Care Act was enacted on March 23, 2010.



Effective Jan. 1, 2011, the cost of an over-the-counter medicine or drug cannot be reimbursed from Flexible Spending Arrangements or health reimbursement arrangements unless a prescription is obtained.

Exceptions: insulin, medical devices, eye glasses, contact lenses, co-pays and deductibles. The new standard applies only to purchases made on or after Jan. 1, 2011, so claims for medicines or drugs purchased without a prescription in 2010 can still be reimbursed in 2011, if allowed by the employer’s plan. A similar rule goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2011 for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and Archer Medical Savings Accounts (Archer MSAs). Employers and employees should take these changes into account as they make health benefit decisions for 2011.

U.S. Economic Indicators (Unemployment rate and Capacity Utilization %)

August 2010

The US Dept. of Treasury release yesterday their Monthly economic data yesterday; here are two...

The unemployment rate is 9.6% and the capacity utilization rate is 74.7% for the month of August. Not much change from last month.

In periods of economic prosperity the capacity utilization rate (i.e., the rate at which production capacity is operating) range in the 80%+.

Source: US Dept of Treasury

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Injury Spouse Claims

I was asked about this topic, so let me talk about it in general.

What is the general definition "injured Spouse"?
this is where you submit a claim to the IRS for wrongfully appling your refund to satisfy a liability (ex., federal taxes, loans, child support, etc.)arising from a marriage relationship.

Some of the issues you may encounter are:

-Income and Taxes reported...
-Commnunity property laws (ex., people who live in TX, AZ, CA, ID, LA,NM, WI, WA, and NV.) requires special treatment...
-Are you personally liable?

After you determine that you qualify and a valid claim was calculated you need to file the proper form to the IRS (F-8379)to get relief.


Source: IRS.gov

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TAX Treaties

In a ceremony held on May 27, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. local time at the OECD in Paris, France, officials from seventeen countries signed the Protocol in order to bring the existing Convention into conformity with current international standards for the exchange of information for tax purposes between national revenue authorities. For example, the Protocol provides for the full exchange of information on request in tax matters without regard to a domestic tax interest requirement or bank secrecy laws. The proposed Protocol also provides updated rules regarding the confidentiality and permitted uses of exchanged information as well as the level of detail that countries must provide when making a request for information. The Protocol also permits countries which are not members of the OECD or of the Council of Europe to become parties to the Convention, subject to unanimous consent by the existing parties.

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Do you really need to file a Federal tax return?

This is the rule for 2009:
It would all depends on many factors, but mainly is Gross Income (GI) and filing status.

Single-
under 65 with GI of $9,350 or more
65+ with GI of $10,750 or more

Head of Household-
under 65 with GI of $12,000 or more
65 + with GI $13,400 or more

Married Filing together-
under 65 with GI of $18,700
65 + with GI of $19,800 (one Spouse)
65 + with GI of $20,900 (both Spouses)

Married filing separately-
age is not a factor, GI $3,650 or more

Widowed (an remains a widowed by year end)with dependent child-
under 65 with GI of $15,050
65 + with GI of $16,150

That is the rule, however, failure to file a tax return may trigger an IRS notice even when a tax return is not required.

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Tax Exempt Organization - filing regs.

Most tax-exempt organizations, other than churches, must file a yearly return or notice with the IRS. If an organization does not file a required annual return for three consecutive years, the law provides that it automatically loses its tax-exempt status. Loss of exempt status means an organization must file income tax returns and pay income tax, and its contributors will not be able to deduct their donations.

What must be filed this year depends on the organization’s financial activity:

Form 990-N If Gross Receipts (GR) Less or equal $25K
Form 990-EZ If GR > $25k <$1 million and Total Assets (TA)of < or =$2.5 Millions. Form 990 If GR > or = $500K or TA > or =$1.25 million.
Form 990-PF Private Foundation.

Source IRS

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