Tag Archives: Mary Mellem

Ask TaxMama Issue 653 Happy Aviation Weekend

 Dear Family, Our celebration this week is all about aviation, flight and fancy. This takes me back to a rather taxing incident in high school. My boyfriend was a pilot and I loved to go flying with him. So did his sociology instructor, the Reverend Carroll N. O’Dell. When Allen was in Mr. O’Dell’s class, […]

IRS Issues Guidance on Employer Provided Cell Phones

By David & Mary Mellem, EAs Included in the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 was a provision that removed cell phones from the definition of “listed property”.  As such the tedious recordkeeping requirements necessary for listed property NO LONGER apply to cell phones effective January 1, 2010.  This change did not address how to […]

Return Changed by Preparer Prior to E-Filing

Courtesy of David & Mary Mellem, EAs A PMTA is a document that contains legal advice signed by attorneys in the National Office of the Office of Chief Counsel and issued to IRS personnel who are national program executives and managers.  They are useful for taxpayers since they explain what the rules are in certain […]

IRS Approves New Per Diem Rates Effective October 1 2009

Courtesy of David and Mary Mellem, EAs IRS has approved new per diem amounts for meals and lodging effective October 1, 2009. These are the same rates which the Federal government uses to reimburse Federal government employees and that we referred to in an email sent out on September 10, 2009. Here are some of […]

Ask TaxMama Issue 512 – To Your Health

Dear Family, Earlier this week Brent Clanton (www.cnn650.com )and I were discussing the proposed batch of tax legislation facing Congress this month. One of the ways the Legislature and President Obama propose to pay for the health insurance and other tax breaks is to tax the ‘rich’ – those earning over $250,000. Sounds like a […]

Transferring an IRA Triggered 10% Penalty

Courtesy of David & Mary Mellem, EAs We’re not talking about a normal transfer of an IRA here. We are talking about a taxpayer who transfers an IRA from which the taxpayer was taking substantial equal periodic payments. First an overview: A taxpayer is generally subject to income tax on distributions from an IRA account […]

Ask TaxMama Issue 511 – Independence from Taxes

[Just a reminder…TaxQuips will be dark next week while we are at the IRS Tax Forum. Follow Your TaxMama® on Twitter. ] Dear Family, Fourth of July weekend is coming up. Many folks are already off for the holiday since it falls on a Saturday. In seems wisdom has it that when a holiday falls […]

Cash For Clunkers

Courtesy of David & Mary Mellem, EAs Cash for Clunkers (not a tax issue but…) This is not a tax issue, but contains a part you may be interested in knowing about. We have already heard from clients asking about this so we figured we’d share what we found. HR 2346 was passed by the […]

Ask TaxMama Issue 509 – Happy Summer and Dads

Dear Family, This was an exciting week, wasn’t it? A pilot died in flight – the passengers land safely in Newark. Lakers fans riot in Los Angeles. IRS announces a crackdown on employee cell-phone deductions – then retracts it. Iranian protester break past government-imposed Internet roadblocks to Twitter their dissent. President Obama provides certain job-related […]

IRS Releases Form to Reconcile the Stimulus Payments

Courtesy of David and Mary Mellem, EAs IRS has released the draft of the new Schedule M (Form 1040). This schedule is planned to be part of the 2009 income tax return to reconcile the $400 stimulus payments. Basically Schedule M calculates the amount of credit taxpayers are entitled to as a result of the […]

After Earth Day – Energy Incentives

Dear Family, Well, I’m baaaaack! It’s always really nice to take some time off and totally disconnect from phones and computers, isn’t it? We’ve been to Paradise and back. Along the way we saw a 9-foot pizza being designed; strawberry pizzas being hawked; pizza-shaped hats; a ratapult tossing stuffed rats; an array of medieval garments […]

Listed Property Limits for 2009

IRC §280F (listed property) provides ceilings on the amount of depreciation and §179 that can be claimed on passenger automobiles, light duty trucks and vans. The limitations listed below are multiplied by the taxpayer’s business use of the vehicle. The amounts for passenger automobiles placed in service in 2009 differ slightly from the amounts for […]