Valuation of Inventories

An inventory is an itemized list of goods held for sale or for consumption in a manufacturing or merchandising business. In order to properly calculate gross profit from operations, leading to a determination of taxable income for that business, the taxpayer must adopt a method of valuing its inventory.

Employer Identification Numbers

An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a nine-digit number that the Internal Revenue Service assigns to identify taxpayers that are required to file various business tax returns. EINs are used by employers, sole proprietors, corporations, partnerships, nonprofit associations, trusts, estates of decedents, government agencies, certain individuals, and other business entities.

Taxation of Legal Damages

When a taxpayer receives an award as the result of a settlement or judgment resulting from a legal action, the question arises as to whether any or all of the award is subject to taxation. The answer depends on what type of damages or losses the award is supposed to replace.

Workers' Compensation Benefits

If you are an employee who receives benefits under a workers' compensation act for personal injuries or sickness incurred in the course of employment, you do not have to include those benefits in your gross income for federal income tax purposes. In addition, if you are the survivor of an employee who died of injuries sustained during the course of employment, you are not required to add the benefits paid to you under a workers' compensation act to your gross income. Benefits are excludable even if the injury to an employee is not permanent and the employee is not totally disabled.

Administrative Law

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the public is entitled to access agency records unless they are protected from disclosure by one of the FOIA's exemptions or exclusions. The Internal Revenue Service complies with the FOIA by maintaining publicly available materials on the Internet, staffing the IRS Public Reading Room in Washington, D.C., and by responding to written requests for agency records not available in the Reading Room.