Financial statements provide a wealth of financial information about a nonprofit organization’s most recent month, quarter or year end. In addition, they also include valuable information to assist in making business decisions and to plan for the organization’s future. This article discusses the purpose and components of different financial statements and how the information can… Read more

The Tax Court recently ruled that a married couple’s significant amount of charitable contributions were not tax deductible because the written acknowledgment provided by their church did not meet the substantial requirements. Supported by Code Sec. 170(f)(8), the Tax Court requires that all charitable donations be supported with a contemporaneous written acknowledgment that states goods… Read more

The recent Supreme Court ruling on the healthcare law upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. While some elements of the bill have already gone into effect, higher income taxpayers need to be mindful of the 3.8% tax on net investment income effective January 1, 2013. Luckily, there are some beneficial strategies… Read more

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has ramped up its efforts in recent years by expanding its audits of the wealthiest individuals. Particularly over the last five years, the IRS audit rates increased on average 10% and the percentage of audits for those with income over $1,000,000 nearly doubled. In 2009, the IRS established a specialized… Read more

In an effort to clarify the general ambiguity that looms over pension plans and fees paid by retirement plan participants, the Department of Labor (DOL) updated two regulations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The updates to “plan level” disclosure rules (Section 408(b)(2) rules) and “participant level” fee disclosure rules (Section 404(a)(5) rules),… Read more