2-DAY FEDERAL TAX UPDATE FOR THE YEAR 2012-2013
INDIVIDUAL, BUSINESS, AND CORPORATE

One tax seminar a year is a must... and this is the best! Our 2-day program-taught by practicing CPAs, EAs, and Tax Attorneys in a high-tech and often humorous manner-covers fast-breaking new tax developments affecting individuals, estates, businesses, partnerships, and corporations and provides attendees with the most complete reference manual available. Our instructors' high energy and real-life experiences bring complicated tax topics to life and offer cutting-edge tax planning opportunities.

Who Should Attend: All tax practitioners, both public and industry, who need the latest–and most relevant–tax changes for their individual, partnership, corporate, and estate clients.

Objective: To enable all tax practitioners to identify and solve client tax problems before tax season starts. New tax planning ideas are emphasized.

COURSE HIGHLIGHTS
All new legislative changes impacting 2012 and 2013 returns.

• Recent and still potential tax changes: Dangerous foreign asset and bank account reporting; corporate tax rate reductions; estate tax changes; expiration of lower tax rates; expiration of a 100 tax provisions; AMT relief.
Day 1
• Individual changes: Impact the Supreme Court decision had on the Health Bill, including what it means to health coverage of older children, W-2 reporting of employer-sponsored health coverage and the 3.8% Medicare tax; filing same-sex couple returns; new stock basis reporting; mortgage interest limits tested by the IRS auditors and the Tax Court in Sophy and–a nasty surprise.
• Real estate changes: More on cancellation of debt relief for acquisition debt on principal residences and short sales of business property; using Form 982 to exclude real estate COD income.
• Passive loss update: New! IRS changes rules for grouping of passive activities–this new election must be attached to returns; failure to make "single activity" election is ruinous to entrepreneurs; meeting the real estate professional eligibility requirements; some rental properties are not qualified for the real estate professional deduction.
• Individual Retirement Plans: Update of IRAs and pension provisions; tax-free IRA distributions for charitable purposes expires but hope remains for an extension. When to use the Roth IRA conversion rules; inflation adjustments for 401(k) plans.
• Estate/Gift taxation: $5/$10 million exclusion from estate tax; new portability benefit for surviving spouse; using family limited partnerships to save estate tax; deductibility of trust funds limited.


Day 2
• Business changes: New! $139,000 §179 expensing election and 50% bonus depreciation deduction; Form 1099-K reporting causes problems; Form 1099 filing compliance gets IRS attention; health insurance credit for small businesses often unclaimed; new capitalization versus repair regulations.
• Federal payroll changes: Voluntary Reclassification program gives relief to havoc recreated by employment audit; how to eliminate IRS's employee-vs-independent contractor audits; amazing pro-employer win–use §530 relief to eliminate payroll taxes.
• Business retirement plans: When to use the Roth IRA conversion rules; inflation adjustments for 401(k) plans.
• Corporate changes: New! Exclusion for qualified small business stock sales changes again; 0% rate on dividends for certain investors (how low is low?); self-employed health insurance deduction for S corporation owners; S corporation basis case scares a lot of preparers; strategies to win C and S corporation reasonable compensation cases after Watson loses appeal.
• Partnership changes: New! Form 1065 analyzed; properly making §754 election to avoid huge malpractice lawsuit; single-person LLCs may not have limited liability on back payroll taxes–beware; LLCs can easily make S election; do LLC members owe SE tax? Maybe! Can it be limited? Learn how!
• IRS audit issues: New! All tax preparers must register with the IRS, but CPAs/EAS preparers exempt from testing and CE standards; beware of the IRS's "Knock and Talk" visit to the preparer's office during tax season; economic substance doctrine kills tax shelters; use of client's tax return information must be tightly restricted; IRS subordinates tax liens at refinance or sale; audit rates increase again, but not for all taxpayers; 10 most litigated tax issues released by the IRS.
• Weekly update: Closing with a general tax update discussion.

Special Feature Course materials contain numerous practical examples, flowcharts, editorial planning tips, and other helpful information to aid the participant's understanding of new developments.

NASBA Field of Study: Taxation
Prerequisite: None
Course Level: Update
CPE Credits: 16 (2 days); 8 (1 day)