Clive red-light cameras to go live again Monday (Des Moines Register):
The cameras will be turned back on Monday at 12:01 a.m.
In addition to approving the contract the council signed off on language that sets in motion a plan for the program to be dismantled at the end of the current fiscal year, which is June 30, 2014.
After turning them off because they are obnoxious, the Clive city fathers are restarting them with a frank admission that they need the money this year. So of course it’s about the money, just like in Des Moines, except Clive admits it.
TaxProf, IRS Hits Estate of Former Detroit Pistons Owner With $2 Billion Tax Bill. ”The estate tax bill alone — $1.9 billion — would represent more than one-tenth of the $13 billion collected through that tax nationwide in 2010, when taxes on most estates of those who died in 2009, like Davidson, were paid.”
Matthew Feeney on Renouncing U.S. Citizenship to Escape the IRS (Reason.com):
It’s astonishing that the American government would punish some of the world’s most patriotic people by making them choose between their citizenship and the headache that comes with trying to be compliant with awful laws like FATCA. The requirements imposed by FATCA on foreign financial institutions and the punishments that come with non-compliance mean that sometimes foreign banks don’t let Americans open accounts at all.
It’s only astonishing anymore if you haven’t figured out just how awful our political leadership is.
Your web guide to despair. The IRS has taken live a new web page for Affordable Care Act Tax Provisions for Individuals and Families
Peter Reilly, Charity Begins At Home But Cannot End There.
You have to wonder why more families don’t start exempt organizations. Well, it may be because, as the PLR explains it does not work – for at least four different reasons…
Peter then provides the reasons, one by one.
Trish McIntire, Documenting Donations
Tony Nitti, IRS (Finally) Consolidates All Late S Election Relief Into One Handy Revenue Procedure
Kay Bell, Turning financial failures into tax-saving successes
TaxProf, The IRS Scandal, Day 99
Robert D. Flach is ready with your Friday Buzz!
Phil Hodgen, I was in Philmont. I plan to be there next year.
News you can use. How to Blow a 1031 Exchange (Paul Neiffer):
The taxpayer indicated they had rolled the gain into other real estate costing about a $1 million and wondered how the rollover gain would affect the basis of their new real estate investment. Many of you probably can guess what my next question was. “Did you receive the cash and then buy the real estate?” To which, the taxpayer said “Yes, we received the cash, but we bought the real estate within 180 days of selling the land”.
That doesn’t work, as Paul explains.
Christopher Bergin, Tax Analysts v. Internal Revenue Service (Tax Analysts Blog):
Here’s the background: On May 21, Tax Analysts sent a FOIA request to the IRS seeking all materials used since 2009 to train IRS personnel in the IRS exempt organizations determinations office in Cincinnati. I’m guessing that there is probably no one who doesn’t know that the IRS is currently under huge scrutiny for how it handles – or mishandles – applications for tax exempt status. This is not just a big story for Tax Analysts but for a lot of news organizations as well. We asked the IRS to expedite the process and it agreed, telling us that our request had “priority” and that it would “make every effort to respond as quickly as possible.” But on June 25, the IRS invoked a 10-day extension period, which extended the deadline to July 10. But in the same letter, the IRS also told us it wouldn’t be meeting that deadline either, and unilaterally extended the response date to August 9.
If the IRS has nothing to hide, it sure has a funny way of showing it.
Going Concern has more: The IRS Is Being Difficult. Caleb really, really wants to believe that nobody cares about IRS harassment of the Tea Party. Yet stories like this keep coming up.
