Brokers as defined by Code Sec. 6045 are subject to certain reporting requirements that have been expanded incrementally over the past three years. The IRS has delayed the latest expansion, which on January 1, 2013 would have required brokers to report the cost basis of debt instruments and options to the IRS.

The Tax Court has rejected a taxpayer's attempt to deduct interest paid on her $1.1 million of indebtedness on her home. The plain language of the Tax Code limited her deduction to $550,000 because she elected to file her return as married filing separately. It did not matter that her husband did not take any mortgage interest deduction, that she paid all the interest, or that she owned the house jointly with her father-in-law who lived elsewhere.

A U.S. person with financial interests in or signature authority over foreign financial accounts generally must file Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) if, at any point during the calendar year, the aggregate value of the accounts exceeds $10,000. The FBAR form is due by June 30 of the calendar year following the calendar year being reported. Thus, FBARs for 2011 are due by June 30, 2012. An FBAR is not considered filed until it is received by the Treasury Department in Detroit, MI.

IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman unveiled his "real-time" tax system idea late in 2011. Since then, the IRS has had public meetings with stakeholders, including representatives of taxpayers, government officials, tax professional associations, and many others, to discuss moving the IRS away from its traditional "look-back" system to a "real-time" system. As explained by Shulman, the goal of a real-time system is to resolve problems with a taxpayer's return before it is processed rather than wait until after it is processed.

Education tax incentives are often underutilized because the rules are so complex. Some of the incentives are tax credits; other deductions. There are also savings plans for education costs. Making things even more complicated is the on-again, off-again nature of the education tax incentives. Under current law (as of June 2012), several taxpayer-friendly features of the incentives are scheduled to expire.

As businesses weather challenging economic times, one boost can come from depreciation. The term "depreciation" is often associated with complicated accounting and tax transactions but the fundamental concept is fairly simple. Depreciation should not be overlooked as a valuable tool.

Hopes for a pre-election resolution to the fate of the Bush-era tax cuts, extenders and other tax incentives are quickly fading as summer approaches. This year is increasingly looking like a replay of 2010, the last time the Bush-era tax cuts were facing imminent expiration. The White House, the Democratic-controlled Senate and the GOP-controlled House all have different opinions on the fate of these tax incentives and negotiations, which have been few and far between, and have quickly bogged down. One solution, which is being talked about more and more, is a temporary extension of the tax cuts. While this would punt the issue to the next Congress, it does little to ease taxpayers' concerns about tax planning in a climate of constant uncertainty.

As an individual or business, it is your responsibility to be aware of and to meet your tax filing/reporting deadlines. This calendar summarizes important, reoccurring tax reporting and filing data for individuals, businesses and other taxpayers for the month of June 2012.

IRS Commissioner Shulman recently announced he plans to leave his position when his five-year term ends in September 2012. Speaking before the National Press Club this past April, Shulman also took the opportunity to review IRS progress during his tenure within numerous strategic areas, including computer technology modernization, tax return preparer standards, and offshore tax evasion. He urged the IRS to continue building on those improvements.

The U.S. government has been tightening its scrutiny of taxpayers who use foreign financial accounts to circumvent U.S. tax law. Last year the Treasury department imposed new requirements on taxpayers with financial interests in or signature authority over a foreign financial account, including a bank account, brokerage account, mutual fund, trust, or other type of foreign financial account. Many taxpayers must now report information related to the foreign financial account to the IRS on a yearly basis by filing the “FBAR.”