Auditor to IRS: Speed it up

The IRS could quicken the pace of its responses to taxpayers, a new government audit has found. The Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration, in a recent report, says that the IRS almost always responds accurately to taxpayer inquiries. But, the audit adds, the agency is not nearly as successful in getting back to taxpayers within its self-imposed 30-day deadline. “Inadequate and untimely responses to taxpayer correspondence adversely affect taxpayers and tax administration,” Russell George, the tax administration inspector general, said in a statement. The audit looked at three separate sets of responses from the IRS, finding them to be accurate at least 80 percent of the time in all three. But the replies were timely only between 10 and 56 percent of the time. The inspector general also found that interim letters, required if a reply cannot be made within 30 days, were not always issued. In all, the audit recommended that the IRS study the interim letter process and clarify instructions for employees, among other things. In its response, the IRS, which received 20 million pieces of correspondence in 2010, quibbled with the how audit compiled its statistics. The agency also noted that it had staffing constraints and defended its use of interim letters.

FASB Issues Multiemployer Pension Plan Standard

After more than a year of debate the Financial Accounting Standards Board has released a new Accounting Standards Update aimed at improving employer disclosures for multiple-employer pension plans. Read below for more information on the new requirements and effective dates. Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-09, “Compensation— Retirement Benefits—Multiemployer Plans (Subtopic 715-80): Disclosures about an Employer’s Participation in a Multiemployer Plan,” is intended to encourage employers to supply additional information about their financial obligations to multiemployer pension plans. Those plans typically are used to provide benefits to union employees, who may work for many employers during their working life, allowing them to accrue benefits in a single pension plan for their retirement. Up to now, employers have been required to disclose only their total contributions to all of the multiemployer plans in which they participated. The new disclosures, as proposed in July, go much further (see FASB Requires More Pension Plan Disclosures). They include the amount of employer contributions made to each significant plan and to all plans in total; an indication of whether the employer’s contributions represent over 5 percent of the total contributions to the plan; an indication of which plans, if any, are subject to a funding improvement plan; and the expiration dates of any collective bargaining agreements and any minimum funding arrangements. Another change involves the most recent certified funded status of the plan, as determined by the plan’s so-called “zone status,” a requirement of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. If the “zone status” is not available, an employer will be required to disclose whether the plan is less than 65 percent funded, between 65 percent and 80 percent funded, or at least 80 percent funded. The update, which was released Wednesday, also requires a description of the nature and effect of any changes that affect the comparability for each period in which a statement of income is presented. The September 2011 edition of FASB in Focus provides an overview of the main provisions in the update. For public entities, the enhanced disclosures will be required for fiscal years ending after Dec. 15, 2011. For nonpublic entities, the enhanced disclosures will be required for fiscal years ending after Dec. 15, 2012. Early application will be permitted.

Applicable Federal Rates (AFRs) for October 2011

The Applicable Federal Rates (AFRs) for the month of October are as follows:

	Annual	Semiannual	Quarterly	Monthly
Short-term (≤ 3 years)	0.32%	0.32%	0.32%	0.32%
Mid-term (> 3 years but ≤ 9 years)	1.27%	1.27%	1.27%	1.27%
Long-term (> 9 years)	3.51%	3.48%	3.46%	3.46%

Holiday Office Closure - Labor Day

In observance of the Labor Day Holiday, tys, llp offices will close at 12:00pm on Friday, September 2 2011.


We will re-open Tuesday, September 6, 2011.

Please have a safe and happy holiday!

Applicable Federal Rates (AFRs) for September 2011

The Applicable Federal Rates (AFRs) for the month of September are as follows:

	Annual	Semiannual	Quarterly	Monthly
Short-term (≤ 3 years)	0.35%	0.35%	0.35%	0.35%
Mid-term (> 3 years but ≤ 9 years)	1.47%	1.46%	1.46%	1.46%
Long-term (> 9 years)	3.77%	3.74%	3.72%	3.71%

Applicable Federal Rates (AFRs) for August 2011

The Applicable Federal Rates (AFRs) for the month of August are as follows:

	Annual	Semiannual	Quarterly	Monthly
Short-term (≤ 3 years)	0.32%	0.32%	0.32%	0.32%
Mid-term (>;3 years but ≤ 9 years)	1.90%	1.89%	1.89%	1.88%
Long-term (>; 9 years)	3.86%	3.82%	3.80%	3.79%