2008 Federal Tax Workbook Topics

The anticipated content for each chapter is described below. Content may be modified and refined prior to publication; however, the chapter topics will remain unchanged.

Education

• Form 8917, Tuition and Fee Deduction
• Form 1098T
• Gift tax in relation to cash gifts of tuition payments
• Hope and lifetime learning planning
• Form 8815, Exclusion of Interest from Series EE.
• Setting up 529 plans for grandkids and impact on financial aid
• Student loan interest

Depreciation

• Industry-specific rates
• Cost segregation
• Form 3115, Application for Change in Accounting Method, to correct depreciation errors
• Section 179 carryovers
• Election to opt in/out of §179
• Use information from 2007 like-kind exchange chapter regarding depreciation
• Purchase of business interest and allocation
• Determining, MACRS, class life
• Depreciation conventions

Employment Taxes

• Form 8919
• Independent contractors
• Household workers

Form 4797 . Capital Gains

• Sale of home with business use
• Sale of vacation home
• Decrease in property value and renting property
• Livestock sales
• Section 179 recapture; from K-1
• Unharvested crops
• Inherited and gifted crops

Financial Distress

• What information is needed to file the bankrupt's tax return?
• What items are not forgiven in bankruptcy?
• Form 982, Reduction of Tax Attributes Due to Discharge of Indebtedness
• Subprime loans bailout
• Debt negotiation and income
• Form 1099C, Cancellation of Debt
• Form 1099A, Acquisition of Abandonment of Secured Property
• Section 108
• Types of bankruptcy
• Guarantor issues
• Impact on credit rating
• Prepetition

Trusts

• When to file 1041
• Special needs trust
• Excerpt from actual trust document
• Preparing final trust return
• DNI calculation
• Principal and Income Act
• Trust tax rates
• 65-day rule for distributions

Limited Liability Companies

• What is an LLC?
• What liability protection do you get from an LLC?
• How to deal with conversions such as LLC (corporation) to LLC (S corporation)

Ethics

• Changes in Circular 230
• Regulations for §6694
• How to file a protective claim
• Take individual sections of Circular 230 and present scenario related to specific sections
• Identity theft
• The definition of a tax return preparer
• What constitutes signing a return?
• How to write a disclosure and when to disclose
• What constitutes substantial authority?

Agricultural Issues

• Wind turbines
• Wineries and vineyards
• New farm bill
• Liquidating interests in ethanol plants
• Dealing with high incomes
• Landlord-tenant issues
• Commodity trading; puts and calls; hedging and speculation
• Form 469 SE
• Commercial fishermen

Retirement

• Social security planning
• Maximizing overall benefits for the self-employed husband and wife
• Types of plans; self-employed; multiple plans
• What's the allowable contribution limits
• Converting from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA
• A guideline for "how much" is enough for retirement
• Retirement plan time frames of when they need to be set up

Small Business Issues

• Home office issues
• Hobby loss
• Sideline businesses
• Tax aspects of franchises
• Economic substance
• Internet and eBay businesses
• Section 263A - cost of goods - Section 199

IRS Update

• Dealing with disasters
• E-services
• IRS campus information
• New products line
• Hot audit topics
• Examination letters
• Non-filer issues
• What to use for documentation regarding E-records?

Individual Taxpayer Problems

• Uniform definition of child
• New kiddie tax rules
• 0% capital gain tax bracket
• Form 1099 R (code P and all other codes)
• Form 2106
• Foreign income
• How do you report the AMT refundable credit in year 2? How do you deal with addition AMT paid in current year?

Rulings and Cases

New Legislation

Rates and Tables

Modified: May 1, 2008