e-News for Tax Professionals Issue 2011-49

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Issue Number:  2011-49

Inside This Issue

1. Preparers: Renew Your PTINs Now
2. Filing Deadline Extended to March 30 for Some Tax-Exempt Organizations
3. Commissioner Shulman Speaks at the IRS/GWU 24th Annual Institute
4. Tips for Year-End Giving
5. IRS Announces 2012 Standard Mileage Rates
6. Registered Tax Return Preparer Candidate Information Bulletin
7. IRS Releases Guidance on Foreign Financial Asset Reporting
8. Revisions to FBAR and Form 8300 Instructions
9. YouTube: Record Keeping Tips
10. Jan. 4 Webinar Explains New EITC Due Diligence Requirements
11. Jan. 11 Webinar on Small Business Tax Compliance Priorities in 2012
12. New Address for Norwalk, Conn., Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC)
13. Technical Guidance

IRS reminds tax return preparers to renew their Preparer Tax Identification Numbers (PTINs) before year’s end. All 2011 PTINs will expire on Dec. 31 and must be renewed annually.

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The Internal Revenue Service announced that tax-exempt organizations with January and February filing due dates will have until March 30, 2012, to file their annual returns.

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Read the prepared remarks of IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman at the IRS/George Washington University 24th Annual Institute on Current Issues in International Taxation, Washington, D.C., Dec. 15, 2011.

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Individuals and businesses making contributions to charity should keep in mind several important tax law provisions that have taken effect in recent years.

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The Internal Revenue Service issued the 2012 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2012, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:
• 55.5 cents per mile for business miles driven
• 23 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations

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Are you taking the Registered Tax Return Preparer Test soon? Read the Candidate Information Bulletin to ensure you know what to expect on test day. The Bulletin contains a list of study resources, test content, and question format. Get all the RTRP Test materials you need at www.irs.gov/taxpros/tests.

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The Internal Revenue Service in coming days will release a new information reporting form that taxpayers will use starting this coming tax filing season to report specified foreign financial assets for tax year 2011. Temporary regulations have been issued for IRC 6038D reporting legislated by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). U.S. taxpayers will file Form 8938 with their individual income tax returns starting this coming tax filing season if their specified foreign financial assets exceed certain thresholds.

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Headliner Volume 316 explains the new process to amend a previously filed Form 8300, Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business, or TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.

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Tax season is just around the corner. Now is a good time to ask your clients to organize their records. - Learn more in this YouTube video.

Watch this and other videos on the IRS YouTube Channel.

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Sign up now to attend the free Meeting Your EITC Due Diligence webinar airing at 2:00 p.m. EST on Jan. 4. Learn about new requirements, how to avoid common pitfalls and protect yourself from higher penalties. Discover free online tools to help you comply.

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Sign up for the free Jan. 11 Webinar on Small Business Tax Compliance Priorities in 2012. The topics will include IRS Small Business/Self-Employed (SB/SE) Division top priorities and challenges for 2012 and overview discussions of priorities by the IRS Compliance Director.

Note: CPE credit is not being offered for this webinar.

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The Norwalk Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC) will move early next year from 24 Belden Ave. in Norwalk, Conn., to 761 Main Avenue, Suite 1000, in Norwalk. The office will close at 12:00 noon on Friday, Jan. 13 and reopen at the new location at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 17.

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Notice 2012-01 provides the optional standard mileage rates for substantiating the amount of deductible expenses for using an automobile for business, moving, medical, or charitable purposes.

Revenue Ruling 2012-01 clarifies the treatment of certain liabilities under the section 461(h)(3) recurring item exception to the economic performance requirement of the all events test.  Under the all events test, an accrual method taxpayer can accrue a liability in the year in which the liability is fixed and determinable and economic performance has occurred.  Under the recurring item exception, a taxpayer can accrue a liability in the year it is fixed and determinable, regardless of economic performance, if the taxpayer satisfies certain conditions, including that either the liability (1) is not material, or (2) better matched to the related income in the earlier year.  The revenue ruling clarifies the “not material” and “better matching” requirements in the context of a one-year lease liability and a one-year service contract liability.  For service contract type liabilities, the recurring item exception applies differently depending on whether the contract is for the provision of services as distinguished from insurance or warranty type contracts.  For liabilities arising out of the provision of services to the taxpayer, the revenue ruling makes clear that the taxpayer must satisfy either the “not material” or “better matching” requirement.  For liabilities arising out of the provision of insurance, warranty or similar service contract liabilities, the better matching requirement is deemed to be met.

Announcement 2011-81 provides temporary relief with respect to Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) in circumstances in which the IRA owners have signed certain indemnification agreements or granted certain security interests in accounts that may have an effect on their IRAs.

Notice 2011-97 identifies statutory, regulatory, and guidance changes that must be taken into account in submissions by retirement plan sponsors.

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