How do you account for gambling wins and losses at a casino? A new Tax Court decision represents a victory for casual gamblers because it says they can determine their net win or net loss at the end of each gambling session. In contrast, the IRS has historically made the argument that a win or loss must be recorded after each slot machine pull or roll of the dice.

The alternative minimum tax (AMT) doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. According to one estimate, the number of individuals paying the AMT in 2010 could jump to more than 30 million. Strategy: Determine if you could be hit by this “stealth tax” for the first time this year. In particular, investors may be blindsided. Here are five prime examples:

An employee handbook can be the foundation of employee performance and a shield against lawsuits, or it can be a ticking time bomb that confuses employees and strips away your legal ...

The IRS is launching a massive new effort to regulate paid tax return preparers. The centerpiece is a registration program designed to weed out subpar unenrolled tax return preparers. One immediate impact: The IRS has started to send letters to 10,000 return preparers who’ve filed a significant number of incorrect returns.

Q. I left property at a charity’s unattended drop site last year. Can I deduct the value without a receipt?

With just a few short weeks before the due date for filing personal returns, you may be starting to panic. But you can buy extra time by filing Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, by April 15. This automatically entitles you to file your federal tax return as late as Oct. 15, 2010—no questions asked!

Don’t be in a rush to mail or e-file your 2009 tax return. Your haste can come back to haunt you in the form of penalties, interest and missed tax-saving opportunities. According to the tax pros, here are 10 common mistakes that plague individual filers:

Q. I’m self-employed and my wife works part time. Do we claim the Making Work Pay credit on our 2009 return?

The tax law may protect an “innocent spouse” from joint and several tax liability if numerous requirements are met. For instance, the understatement of tax must be due to errors or omissions by your spouse, and you must establish that you did not know—or had no reason to know—that there was an understatement of tax. However, as a new case shows, there are limits to the relief afforded to so-called innocent spouses.

The new Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act includes a provision to extend the enhanced Section 179 deduction for another year. Without the extension, the maximum Section 179 deduction would drop from $250,000 for 2009 to $134,000 this year.

On March 2, President Obama signed stopgap legislation extending eligibility under the COBRA subsidy program for an extra month. The 65% subsidy now covers qualified workers “involuntarily terminated” from their jobs through March 31, 2010.

A taxpayer who represented herself in a Tax Court tussle with the IRS has prevailed in a surprising new decision. The court allowed the taxpayer to deduct almost $15,000 of tuition incurred to attain a master’s degree in business administration. The new case may open the door to deductions in similar situations.

Q. I own an apartment house built in the late ’70s. If I renovate it for a future sale, can I claim a rehabilitation credit for the cost?

As you thumb through the mail one day, an unassuming letter catches your eye. Return address: The IRS. You nervously tear open the envelope and your worst fears are confirmed: The IRS has chosen your return for a correspondence audit. How do you beat an IRS audit?

If you bought a new car in 2009, get out your calculator: Your tax deduction choices are more complicated this year. Here’s why:

Form 1040 isn’t the only IRS form that’s been updated for 2009 tax returns. Here are several major changes on the accompanying Schedule A (Itemized Deductions), Schedule B (Interest and Ordinary Dividends) and Schedule D (Capital Gains and Losses).

Before you hunker down to fill out your 2009 tax return, be aware of all the changes on the Form 1040 this year. Here’s a summary:

You’re embarking on a big project and you want to do it right. So you draft a detailed plan. Just make sure it pays off.

Due to the economic slowdown, the IRS expects more taxpayers to file early and claim their refunds sooner. Electronic filing is the quickest way to obtain a refund. Paper returns take four to six weeks to process. In contrast, e-filers can generally expect to receive refunds within 10 days.

There’s nothing humdrum about the Form 1040 you’re about to file with Uncle Sam. Thanks mainly to the economic stimulus law passed last year—the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—the ’09 return is chock-full of tax breaks for the well-informed. Here are 10 tax moves to wake up to this year:

Are your kids nearing the time to enter college? If you’re like many parents, you may not have saved enough to finance the higher education of your offspring. Now it’s too late to benefit to any significant degree from a Section 529 plan or other college savings vehicle. Don’t panic. As the clock ticks down, you may be able to turn to other sources, without paying a small fortune in taxes.

South Dakota has replaced Wyoming as the state with the best “business climate,” while New Jersey remains the worst in the annual State Business Tax Climate Index (SBTCI) conducted by the Tax Foundation, an independent tax advocacy group. The SBTCI ranks states based on the taxes that matter most to businesses and business investment: corporate tax, individual income tax, sales tax, unemployment tax and property tax.

Q. My son was laid off from his job in April 2009. Does he still benefit from the new extension for COBRA subsidies?

President Obama’s State of the Union address on Jan. 27 outlined a broad agenda of tax provisions that are intended to breathe new life into the economy. The overall idea is familiar: take more from taxpayers at one end of the financial spectrum and distribute it to some at the other end, using a series a tax provisions. Here are some highlights of Obama’s proposed changes:

Q. I bought a new car costing $60,000 in 2009. Can I deduct the sales tax for the new vehicle purchase plus an amount for the optional sales tax deduction?