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We look at the controversy that has arisen about a modification the IRS made to this year's Schedule D instructions. In the 2005 edition of the instructions, the IRS specifically indicates that taxpayers may not enter "See Attached" and reference a schedule of detailed transactions for Schedule D, but rather must fill the details on Schedule D-1.

Download the materials prior to listening to the podcast.

May you have an enjoyable holiday season. And, remember, tax season is just around the corner...

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This week we look at adequate disclosure under Revenue Procedure 2005-75 for purposes of escaping the substantial understatement penalty under Section 6662(a).

Download the materials for the podcast from http://www.edzollars.com/Adequate_Disclosure.pdf.

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Be sure to download the materials from http://edzollars.com/2005-12-03_Alimony_Defintion.pdf.

This week's podcast deals with the tax issues related to alimony, and looks at two recent cases where taxpayers lost in their attempts to get certain payments treated as alimony. In one case (D.E. Lofstrom, 125 T.C. No. 13) the taxpayer attempted to claim an alimony deduction on the transfer of a note receivable from a third party.

In the second case (D.K. Vanarsdall, T.C. Summary Opinion 2005-170) the taxpayer attempted to get the court to count as alimony payments the decree stated were not alimony because the statement did not spell out the matter exactly as Section 71 provides for disqualifying an otherwise qualified payment from alimony treatment.

In both cases, the taxpayer lost. In this podcast we look at the general issues surrounding alimony payments, and what you need to look for when dealing with a client who is either going through a divorce or who comes to you after the fact with a signed and sealed divorce decree.

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This Podcast considers a case involving two doctors who receive funds from the local school to use for the education of their autistic child.

The doctors attempted to claim they were running a business and attempted to deduct the net losses they incurred. The Tax Court analyzed this case under Section 183.

We also go on beyond this case (whose result probably isn't surprising to most listeners) to discuss the general "hobby loss" rules under Section 183.

The materials can be downloaded here.

Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

We look at a  private letter ruling where the IRS made it clear that taxpayers who use the 60 day rollover rule to "borrow" from their IRA do so at their own risk, even if events completely out of their control intervene to make it impossible to complete the rollover.

This podcast discusses the law surrounding the 60 day rollover, and the details of this particular ruling.

Be sure to download the materials before listening to the podcast.

Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This podcast deals with three cases that pertain to attempts to have the court deal with the substance of a transaction as opposed to its form.

We'll discuss why the IRS can succeed at this, while taxpayers have an uphill fight in most cases.

This week's developments in the area of extensions for 2006 and the IRS's losing battle on the excise tax on flat rate per minute long distance and the excise tax on toll calls are also discussed.

The materials can be downloaded by clicking here.

Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This Podcast considers two recent Tax Court cases that dealt with contributions to charity and the values of the items donated. In one case, the item donated was a car while in the other case it was a monastery.

In both cases, actual sales of the property in question made the courts seriously question the taxpayer's appraisal--and eventually made the court decide against the taxpayer.

Materials for this podcast are available from this link. Please download those to use while listening to the podcast itself.

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This Podcast covers the issues surrounding the use of the mail and electronic filing to prove a filing date. The materials can be downloaded by clicking this link and can be referred to while listening to the podcast.

There are a number of myths and misunderstandings among practitioners in this area, so we review the authority in this area.

We also talk about the split among the Circuits on whether Section 7502(c) provides the exclusive method to have a presumption of timely filing if the IRS can't find the return, as well as the IRS's idea on how to solve this split.

Not surprisingly, it's not by going along with those Circuits where the IRS lost.

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This podcast is based on a September 20, 2005 talk by Ed Zollars for the Arizona Society of CPAs on the changes to Circular 230 that became effective over the summer.

To download a manual, click here.

Please post your commments on the blogsite  at http://ezollars.libsyn.com.

Sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc.(LISI) at http://www.leimbergservices.com
Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com