As expected, Congress has extended the tax relief offered to Hurricane Katrina victims to those affected by hurricanes Wilma and Rita as well. In doing so, Congress created a broad range of tax incentives that will help both recovering businesses in the Gulf Coast region as well as new businesses considering moving into the devastated areas. As part of this tax package, Congress also included some clean-up work of its own, making technical corrections on tax legislation going back as far as 1987. CCH’s tax editors have prepared a complete Tax Briefing to help practitioners get up to speed on what they must know about this new legislation before filing 2005 returns.

 

To get a free full-text copy of this Tax Briefing, click here .

 

Hurricane relief, expiring provisions, new provisions kicking in for the first time and legal developments highlight the list of topics tax professionals have to be up to date on in preparation for the 2005 individual income tax return filing season. CCH’s CPE Credit Service provides a quick overview of topics such as:

• The new uniform definition of a dependent child,
• Casualty loss rules affected by the various hurricane victim relief legislation packages,
• New hybrid vehicles that qualify for tax incentives,
• The latest court rulings,
• Changes in the standard deduction, and
• Inflation adjustments to various tax credits.

Get an in-depth review of the changes that will affect 2005 individual return filing in CCH’s CPE Credit Service prepared by tax experts Sidney Kess and Barbara Weltman. You can also go online to CCH’s testing center at http://www.cchtestingcenter.com/ to earn CPE credit by taking the Final Exam Quizzer for this portion of the CPE course.

 

 

---

Recent developments such as Hurricane Katrina and political considerations have made the areas of financial and estate planning uncertain as far as being able to accurately advise clients of what to expect in the future, according to the CCH Financial and Estate Planning Editorial Advisory Board. The group met in the fall to discuss recent trends in the areas of financial planning, estate planning, retirement planning, accounting firm oversight and insurance. Board member Sanford Schlesinger commented during the meeting, "I am very uncomfortable because how do we advise clients of the change in the law when we do not know what the law is going to be three weeks or six weeks from now?" The group went on to highlight the areas of uncertainty as well as provide tips on how they are dealing with these uncertain times in their own practices.

 

 

Was this article useful?
Send us your comments: CCH-FocusOnTax@cch.com

---

Entity planning is a critical part of tax planning for nearly any business, but it can be especially true for businesses that are trying to achieve the lowest possible tax rate on real estate transactions, according to Stephen L. Owen in a recent issue of CCH’s Journal of Passthrough Entities. Owen is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP. Owen walks tax professionals through the use of various entities, including C corporations, S corporations, LLCs and partnerships and discusses how the choice of each entity can affect taxpayers’ ability to achieve real estate capital gains.

 

 

---

Congress recently took steps to deal with the rise of bankruptcy declarations in the United States with the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. Part of that legislation is aimed at helping states get priority treatment in bankruptcy proceedings when debtors owe state taxes. The new rules are generally considered to favor tax authorities over debtors, according to Randall K. Hanson and James K. Smith in a recent issue of CCH’s Journal of State Taxation. These authors, professors at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and the University of San Diego, respectively, walk through the changes made by the new law and how it will affect attempts to avoid taxes in bankruptcy.

 

 

Was this article useful?
Send us your comments: CCH-FocusOnTax@cch.com