IRS Announces 2010 Standard Mileage Rates

The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2010 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, 2010, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car will be: 50 cents per mile for business miles driven 16.5 [...]

Report on Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR): General Requirements

Under the Bank Secrecy Act, each United States person must file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (the “FBAR”) with the U.S. Department of Treasury if two conditions apply. The first condition is that the U.S. person must have either a financial interest in or signature authority (or other comparable authority)over one or [...]

Significance of Income Source Rules in International Tax Law

When dealing with the international transactions, the United States tax law usually divides income into two broad categories: foreign source income and the U.S. source income.  The determination of whether the income is foreign or U.S. in origin depends on a set of rules – the source-of-income rules – created by Congress, elaborated by the [...]

Minnesota Unemployment Insurance: Independent Contractors in the Trucking Industry ~ By: Eugene Sherayzen, Sherayzen Law Office

Standing at the crossroads of tax and employment law, the perennial problem of whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor has been among the most important and common unemployment insurance tax issues. This problem is particularly complex in the trucking industry, due to the special conditions present in that industry’s working environment. [...]

Reduction of Estimated Tax Payments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)

Prior to the ARRA, small businesses usually had to pay 110 percent of their previous year’s taxes in estimated taxes. The ARRA permits small businesses to reduce their estimated payments to 90 percent of the previous year’s taxes. This article was written and published by Sherayzen Law Office, a Minneapolis law firm.  If you are [...]

Definition of Foreign Earned Income for the purposes of Foreign Income Exclusion under I.R.C. §911

Under I.R.C. §911, if certain conditions are met, a qualified individual can exclude as much $91,400 (for tax year 2009) of foreign earned income from taxable gross income. Two questions arise: what is earned income, and when is such income considered to be foreign earned income? Earned Income Earned income usually means wages, salaries, or [...]

Understanding Foreign Income Exclusion under I.R.C. §911: General Information 0

Under I.R.C. §911, a U.S. citizen or resident can elect to exclude as much as $91,400 (for tax year 2009) of foreign earned income and some or all foreign housing costs from taxable gross income if two conditions are met. First, the individual must satisfy either a foreign presence or bona fide residence test. Second, [...]