Starting with those who had birthdays in July 2011, the SSA is going to discontinue mailing these annual projected benefit statements. It is expected to save $30 million, this fiscal year, and $60 million, next fiscal year, by ending the mailings.

The recently enacted 2012-2013 budget that Gov. Kasich signed into law includes a provision that eliminates the Ohio estate tax. Before this repeal, Ohio taxed anyone who died with assets above $338,333 at a tax rate of up to 7%. This was the lowest exemption amount of any state in the United States.

There were a lot of discussions this recent tax season regarding the tax law changes on Roth conversions. Those conversations will likely continue this year, as some changes to your new Roth can be made through October 2011.

Dealing with the Ohio Department of Taxation (ODT) just became a little more difficult. ODT has announced that June 30, 2011 was the last day that Service Centers in Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, Toledo, Youngstown, and Zanesville would be open.

This week we are going to paraphrase an excellent article that appeared in the June 27, 2011 issue of Forbes (author: William Baldwin).

Effective July 1, 2011, the IRS has made two significant tax law changes. The first is an increase in the mileage rate. The second is a reduction in the Federal Unemployment rate (FUTA).