CARPE PER DIEM! IRS Raises Per Diem Rate!

October 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Carpe Per Diem!  IRS Raises Per Diem Rate!

Effective October 1, 2011, businesses may now pay themselves or their employees $242 a day for meals, lodging, and incidentals in 43 high-cost regions (surprise surprise…Sedona = one of those high-cost regions). In all other localities, it increased to $163. For solely meals and incidentals, the rate remains unchanged – $65 a day in high-cost areas and $52 elsewhere.

For self-employed individuals, the meals and incidental rate can be used in lieu of keeping receipts, but lodging expenses must be kept separately. Keep this in mind when planning your next business trip!

For information on the localities you can visit http://www.irs.gov/publications/p1542/ar02.html. Safe travels!

 

 

 

Filed Under: Audit, IRS, Tax Planning, Tax Tips

What are your chances of being audited by the IRS?

September 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Lousy IRS Tee ShirtWant to know your chances of being audited by the Internal Revenue Service? New IRS statistics give the details on audits of individuals in fiscal year 2010. The overall exam rate for individual returns rose to 1.11%, the highest since 1997.

Taxpayers with incomes of $1 million or more got the most “attention.” The IRS audited 8.36% of these filers. That is an average of one out of every 12 returns.

Three other classes of taxpayers experienced significant audit heat as well, with audit rates more than twice the average:
Filers with incomes of at least $200,000 up to $1 million
Business returns with gross receipts of $25,000 and up, especially Schedule C filers
And taxpayer returns that claim the Earned Income Credit

Stay tuned, in future posts, we will help give you tips and hints on how to generally minimize this chance.

By the way….they will not give you a t-shirt if indeed you are audited .

Filed Under: Audit, IRS Tagged With: ,