The Senate early morning Dec.9 by a vote of 79-9 approved H.R.6111, the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006.

This long awaited package of tax extender provisions will affect both 2006 individual and business returns and tax planning for 2007.

RIA's Complete Analysis of the Tax Provisions of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 provides comprehensive, authoritative and timely analysis so that you can quickly and easily understand and plan under the new tax bill and is available now.

You can also stay informed on key tax legislative developments with Tax Watch.

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 new law also affects a small number of business taxpayers who don't use the Form 1040 series, resulting in minimal processing delays for some of these businesses in January and early February.

Although the 2007 filing season will begin on time, the IRS will not be able to process a small percentage of individual tax returns until early February due to recent changes in the law involving deductions for state and local sales tax, higher education tuition and fees and educator expenses. Based on filings earlier this year, only about 930,000 tax returns claimed any of the three extenders provisions by February 1. The sales tax deduction was claimed on approximately 11.2. million tax returns filed in 2006 for Tax Year 2005. The tuition deduction was claimed on about 4.7 million returns and the educator expense deduction was claimed on 3.5 million returns.

For a closer look at the deductions, see "IRS Begins Implementing Extenders Legislation", Click Here.

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Where is your business going in 2007? How do you plan to get there? Setting effective business goals can help you, your business and your employees achieve more in 2007. Here are five tips for getting everyone involved and working towards the same ends:

1. Write out your goals, post them in a prominent place in the office and distribute copies to all employees. If you are having a 2007 kick-off meeting or other company-wide event, you may want to have all employees sign the list of goals to be posted on a bulletin board.

2. Schedule dates for reporting progress on each goal throughout the year. Ask employees to take responsibility for doing their part to reach each goal by assigning specific tasks or dividing up into teams responsible for implementing each goal.

3. Identify the business benefits of each goal in quantifiable terms. To create motivation, goals should require some effort AND be reasonable. Goals that are too easy or too hard to achieve will swiftly be forgotten. Limit the number of goals, so that efforts and attention can be focused effectively.

4. Identify the potential benefits to the employees and how their efforts will be recognized. Also, make contingency plans in case progress lags or external forces require that goals be changed.

5. Demonstrate management's commitment by including managers and executives on implementation teams or assigning them specific, visible tasks, and by providing necessary financial and staff support for each goal.

Businesses following these simple tips can look forward to a 2007 full of the kind of improvement and involvement that are key to long-term success.

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