From the most recent episode of NewsBusted

April 15th is not the official Tax Day this year.  Because of holidays and weekends, IRS has announced that the official filing deadlines this year are:

Monday, April 18 for normal 1040s and 4868s (extensions)

Monday, October 17 for extended 1040s

We can all adjust our focus accordingly.  

From his hilarious review of 2010:

…a partisan debate rages over what to do about the expiring Bush tax cuts. The Democrats, suddenly alarmed about the deficit, want to raise taxes on people making $250,000 a year — or, as the Democrats routinely refer to them, “billionaires.” The Republicans want to extend tax cuts for everybody, but compensate by cutting federal spending at a later date using an amazing new spending-cutting device they have seen advertised on TV.

Finally, Obama and the Republican leaders reach a compromise under which income-tax rates will stay the same for everybody, but the death tax will be expanded to include people who are merely hung over…

Obama, trying to sell the compromise, appears ambivalent, saying that “it is less than ideal,” but also pointing out that “it totally sucks,” adding, “I hate it.” Despite this smooth sales pitch, many Democrats are unhappy.

From a reader:

Subject:  Incorrect corporate tax rate

The tax rate table is incorrect (and outdated) – http://www.taxguru.org/incometax/Rates/1120.htm – the incorrection is as following:

Under the Tax column, you have, as an example, 25% “minus” $5000, it should be (25% of amount greater than $50,000) + $5,000.

My Reply:

Actually, that table is still correct.  It is set up as a short-hand method of calculating the tax by multiplying the total taxable income by the appropriate rate for the effective bracket and then subtracting the effect of the lower brackets.  It’s a faster calculation method than figuring each bracket individually and adding them together.

Here is a link to the most recent C Corp tax table from my main reference book, TheTaxBook.

From Tax Info

You can see that it is the exact same as the table I have had on my website for the past several years.

I hope this clears this up for you.

Kerry Kerstetter

For the past few months I have been working on a rather lengthy piece on the upcoming new rules mandating electronic filing of 1040s by almost all professional tax preparers.  As a long-time opponent of e-filing, I was always planning on not going along with this mandate and continuing to prepare paper returns with a ton of additional info attached, such as QuickBooks financial statements. 
I have been monitoring the run-up to the implementation of this new requirement with a keen interest in the acceptable procedures for opting out.  There had been mention of some different IRS forms to allow us to submit paper 1040s; but copies of those actual forms were nowhere to be found –  until now. 
I like to browse the IRS’s Draft Tax Forms page at least once a week to see what new changes are in the works.  As I reviewed that page today, I came across Form 8948: Preparer Explanation for Not Filing Electronically and downloaded a copy of that.   

From Tax Info

I am assuming that once this form has been formally placed into service by IRS, Lacerte and other software services will add it to the 2010 program because I will be using it for all of the tax returns I prepare.
Update: I was checking TheTaxLibrary to see if they had the 8948 posted in their forms section.  They didn’t; most likely because it is still only a draft.  However, they did have Form 8944: Preparer e-file Hardship Waiver Request. I’ll look it over and possibly submit it to IRS to obtain a blanket waiver from their new e-file requirement.

From Tax Info

Update 2:  I just downloaded and installed the second 2010 CD for Lacerte and I found that it now has Form 8948 with the following input section.

From Tax Info

 Update 3: IRS Notice 2010-85 has a lot of inf on this issue.

Click for mini-animation:

Happy New Year 2011