The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced new guidelines helping tax filers in 2007 claim extended deductions and other tax advantages included in the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006.

The Hawaiian 2005-2007 Tax Review Commission has finished its review of its tax structure and issued its final report to the Legislature. The Hawaii Reporter reports some 23 recommendations were made, covering individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and tax professionals.

While giving holiday bonuses to hard-working employees sounds like a simple enough proposition, it’s anything but.“Holiday bonuses are very tricky,” said Kate Zabriskie, founder of Business Training Works. “The wrong bonus sends the wrong message.”She must be right because employees are full of tales of holiday woe. Valerie Bent regularly worked 55-hour weeks at a Los Angeles-area investor relations firm, which gave bonuses equal to about 40 percent of an employee’s annual salary.

The 2005 real estate boom, coupled with low loan rates, produced a large number of first- time home buyers who will deal with new tax regulations when filling out their 2006 taxes. Thousands of filers who will deal with deductions can use the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Publication 530, which is available for the 2006 tax season and provides specific guidelines to determine eligibility for homeowner deductions. For many new homeowners, the move from standard tax deductions to itemized deductions using the standard

Accounting firms that are considering moving from their existing locations are getting a lot of help from local governments who want to retain or attract professional firms to their communities. Whitinger Properties, a long established accounting firm in Muncie, Indiana, received $120,890 in tax breaks this week from the Muncie City Council on a new $2.3 million office building in Ontario Place, the StarPress.com reports.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced there will be no change in interest rates for the calendar quarter beginning January 1, 2007. The interest rates announced in http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-06-63.pdf Revenue Procedure 2006-63 are: 8 percent for overpayments, 7 percent in the case of a corporation 8 percent for underpayments 10 percent for large corporate underpayments 5.5 percent for the portion of a corporate overpayment exceeding $10,000.

Residents of states that do not levy income tax, college students and their families, teachers and many high-tech companies, are among the beneficiaries of the tax and trade bill passed by the House on Friday and the Senate on Saturday morning at 4 a.m. Earlier in the week, the Senate extended the term of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction which was set up by Congress to provide oversight of the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund and all obligations, expenditures, and revenues associated with reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in Iraq.

Free File, an innovative partnership between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Free File Alliance, is beginning its fifth year in January with an agreement removing ancillary offerings, including Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs), from the program. For 2007, 70 percent of all taxpayers will be eligible for Free File.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Friday announced new guidelines for taxpayers to follow to substantiate donations to charities made by payroll deductions. Notice 2006-110 explains how a taxpayer who makes charitable contributions by payroll deductions can meet the new recordkeeping requirements. The recently enacted Pension Protection Act of 2006 changed the recordkeeping requirements for taxpayers claiming deductions for cash contributions to charities, including contributions made by payroll deductions.