The IRS has increased the standard mileage rate for business purposes, but lowered the rate for medical or moving purposes.

The federal unemployment tax rate for employers increased for the fourth year for 2014 due to an automatic repayment system for states that haven’t repaid their debts.

Just before Christmas, Congress finally passed the “tax extenders” for 2014. These “extenders” refer to a set of about 60 tax incentives that are scheduled to lapse after a certain number of years. We have seen Congress act at the last minute three times in the past: October 2008, December 2010 and January 2013.

Hopefully, you followed some of the suggestions we outlined a couple of years ago in Kick off the New Year... by getting organized! to organize your records. If you did, great! This will make filing your tax returns a lot easier this year. It also means that you and your tax advisor can spend more time on tax and financial planning issues for 2015 vs. looking back to 2014.

We are going to take a break from tax planning this week. Instead, the family of Bradstreet & Company would like to wish you and your family the most joyous holiday season and best wishes for 2015.

The GAO says that since FY 2010, the IRS has lost 10,000 employees and had its budget cut by $900 million. More cuts are proposed for the 2015 IRS budget. Identity theft issues, foreign asset reporting, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) responsibilities will continue to absorb personnel and resources.