The Bureau of Meteorology of the Australian Government provided the mean annual rainfall (in millimeters) in Australia 1983–2002 as follows (http://www.bom.gov.au/ climate/change/rain03.txt) 499.2, 555.2, 398.8, 391.9, 453.4, 459.8, 483.7, 417.6, 469.2, 452.4, 499.3, 340.6, 522.8, 469.9, 527.2, 565.5, 584.1, 727.3, 558.6, 338.6 Construct a 99% two-sided confidence interval for the mean annual rainfall. Assume population is approximately normally distributed. Round your answers to 2 decimal places. less-than-or-equal-to mu less-than-or-equal-to

Part of international trade involves countries using their money to purchase other countries currencies, invest in their stock markets, and purchase financial products such as US treasuries (bonds, debt). In August 2002, a private lawsuit was filed in U.S. courts which sought to seize over $1 trillion worth of Saudi Arabian and other Middle Eastern assets in the United States as compensation for terrorist attacks. If the lawsuit would have been successful, how would that have affected future foreign investment in the United States? How would it affect interest rates?

The advent of Corporate Governance & Compliance and business ethics represented a major change in the way that senior leadership manages corporate operations. Since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in 2002, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, and other legislation have been enacted there is a concerted effort to bring transparency, accountability, and ethical behavior back into the market place. Discuss the effects these laws and regulations involving Corporate Governance, Corporate Compliance and business ethics activities on: corporate leadership, stockholders and stakeholders in the corporation and our economy. (Please type answer)

Shauna Coleman is single. She is employed as an architectural designer for Streamline Design (SD). Shauna wanted to determine her taxable income for this year. She correctly calculated her AGI. However, she wasn’t sure how to compute the rest of her taxable income. She provided the following information with hopes that you could use it to determine her taxable income.

Shauna paid $4,680 for medical expenses for care from a broken ankle. Also, Shauna’s boyfriend, Blake, drove Shauna (in her car) a total of 115 miles to the doctor’s office so she could receive care for her broken ankle.

Shauna paid a total of $3,400 in health insurance premiums during the year (not through an exchange). SD did not reimburse any of this expense. Besides the health insurance premiums and the medical expenses for her broken ankle, Shauna had Lasik eye surgery last year and she paid $3,000 for the surgery (she received no insurance reimbursement). She also incurred $450 of other medical expenses for the year.

SD withheld $1,800 of state income tax, $7,495 of Social Security tax, and $14,500 of federal income tax from Shauna’s paychecks throughout the year.

In 2016, Shauna was due a refund of $250 for overpaying her 2015 state taxes. On her 2015 state tax return that she filed in April of 2016, she applied the overpayment towards her 2016 state tax liability. She estimated that her state tax liability for 2016 will be $2,300.

Shauna paid $3,200 of property taxes on her personal residence. She also paid $500 to the developer of her subdivision, because he had to replace the sidewalk in certain areas of the subdivision.

Shauna paid a $200 property tax based on the state’s estimate of the value of her car.

Shauna has a home mortgage loan in the amount of $220,000 that she secured when she purchased the home. The home is worth about $400,000. Shauna paid interest of $12,300 in interest on the loan this year.

Shauna made several charitable contributions throughout the year. She contributed stock in ZYX Corp. to the Red Cross. On the date of the contribution, the FMV of the donated shares was $1,000 and her basis in the shares was $400. Shauna originally bought the ZYX Corp. stock in 2008. Shauna also contributed $300 cash to State University and religious artifacts she has held for several years to her church. The artifacts were valued at $500 and Shauna’s basis in the items was $300. Shauna had every reason to believe the church would keep them on display indefinitely. Shauna also drove 200 miles doing church-related errands for her minister. Finally, Shauna contributed $1,200 of services to her church last year.

Shauna’s car was totaled in a wreck in January. The car was worth $14,000 and her cost basis in the car was $16,000. The car was a complete loss. Shauna received $2,000 in insurance reimbursements for the loss.

Shauna paid $300 for architectural design publications, $100 for continuing education courses to keep her up to date on the latest design technology, and $200 for professional dues to maintain her status in a professional designer’s organization.

Shauna paid $250 in investment advisory fees and another $150 to have her tax return prepared (that is, she paid $150 in 2016 to have her 2015 tax return prepared).

Shauna is involved in horse racing as a hobby. During the year, she won $2,500 in prize money and incurred $10,000 in expenses. She has never had a profitable year with her horse racing activities, so she acknowledges that this is a hobby for federal income tax purposes.

Shauna sustained $2,000 in gambling losses over the year (mostly horse-racing bets) and only had $200 in winnings.

Assuming her AGI is $107,000

a. Determine Shauna’s taxable income and complete Form 1040 and Schedule A assuming her AGI is $107,000

Carly’s gross estate includes 1,500 shares of stock of Macon Corporation (basis to Carly of $1,200,000, fair market value on date of death of $8,250,000). The estate will incur $5,500,000 in death taxes and funeral and administration expenses, and the adjusted gross estate is $22,000,000. Joni, Carly’s daughter and sole heir of her estate, owns the remaining 500 shares of Macon Corporation’s shares outstanding. In the current year, Macon (E&P of $10,000,000) redeems all the estate’s 1,500 shares for $8,250,000.

(1)   Does Macon’s redemption of the estate’s stock qualify as a redemption to pay death taxes under § 303? Explain and show supporting computations.
(2)   How much of the redemption qualifies under § 303?
(3)   Can the rest of the proceeds be treated as received from the sale of stock under one of the other qualifying redemptions (not essentially equivalent to a dividend, substantially disproportionate, or complete termination)? Explain why or why not and show computations to support your answer.
(4)   Without prejudice to your answer in Part (3), assume that the rest of the proceeds cannot be treated as a sale of the stock under one of the other qualifying redemptions. What are the amounts and character of the income the estate must recognize?   

Prompt: To prepare for this journal assignment, view this Avvo commercial. This commercial exemplifies a person in the aging population with exemplary wellbeing, who feels minimal stress about preparing for death and dying, which is an issue within the aging population. Such preparations include a will or trust, planning and/or paying for funeral arrangements, budgeting for medical expenses, and obtaining life insurance. Making these preparations can have a toll on the individual, but not being prepared can have a negative impact on the family of that individual. What strategies will you utilize as you educate the aging population in your community about preparations for death and dying? Then, reflect on the connection between health and well-being, and the impact of end-of-life preparations on the individual as well as the family. The following critical elements must be addressed: ? Create strategies to use when educating the aging population in a community regarding preparations for death and dying. ? Analyze the impact on an individual regarding making preparations for one’s own death and dying. ? Analyze the impact of making preparations for the death of a family member. ? Consider the interrelationship between health and well-being. How do they relate to each other? You may use examples from the video as well as other resources to support your statements.

5. Ulanda U. Lucky is an air traffic controller who is paid $14,000 per month. Use the FICA rate is 6.2% on the first $127,200 of earnings and the Medicare tax rate is 1.45% on all earnings.

1. How much FICA tax should be withheld from Ms. Lucky’s paycheck for the month of March?

                                                                                                                        ________________________

2. How much Medicare tax should be withheld from Ms. Lucky’s paycheck for the month of March?

                                                                                                                        ________________________

3. How much FICA tax should be withheld from Ms. Lucky’s paycheck for the month of October?

                        ________________________

4. How much Medicare tax should be withheld from Ms. Lucky’s paycheck for the month of October?

                                                                                                                        ________________________

For Questions 12 – 13, find the FICA and Medicare tax for each of the following self-employed people. Assume that none of them has earned over $127,200 for the year. Use a FICA rate of 12.4% and a Medicare rate of 2.9%.

6. Lois Steem is a self-employed assertiveness training coach. Her adjusted income is $19,500 for the first quarter.

1. FICA tax        ________________________

2. Medicare tax ________________________

7. The employees of the Hadley-Newham Funeral Home paid a total of $678.15 in Social Security tax, $158.60 in Medicare, and $21858 in federal withholding. Find the total amount the company should send the IRS.

Your assignment is to read the Epidemiology research paper, “Mobile phone use and the risk of acoustic neuroma” (Lönn et al., 2004), for the next class. Te next time class meets, there will be a class discussion led by the instructor. Te questions below will help you prepare for this discussion. Questions 1. Compare the scientifc data given in the press articles with those in the scientif c paper. 2. Do you think cell phone use is hazardous to human health? 3. Based on this information, are you going to avoid using cell phones in the future?

THE PROBLEM

From 1996 through 2002, KPMG received $124 million in tax consulting fees from promoting tax shelters that allowed individuals and corporations to improperly avoid more than $1.4 billion in federal taxes.⁷ E-mail messages obtained and released by the Internal Revenue Service indicated that KPMG officials were aware that the tax shelters were questionable.

As one example, a shelter referred to as bond-linked issue premium structures (BLIPS) created $5 billion in tax losses for investors. Under this shelter, clients would purchase foreign currency from offshore banks with funds borrowed from those same banks only to sell the currency back to the same bank a few months later. These investments were presented to the Internal Revenue Service as seven-year investments.⁸ Other shelters in question carried similar names such as FLIP, OPIS, and SOS.

THE OUTCOME

On August 26, 2005, KPMG admitted to criminal tax fraud and agreed to a payment of $456 million in penalties (an average of $300,000 per KPMG partner); the government agreed to deferred adjudication and, in January 2007, dismissed all criminal charges against the firm. Subsequently, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed indictments against 13 of 16 former KPMG partners and, on December 18, 2008, two of the remaining three partners were convicted on multiple counts of tax evasion. (The remaining partner was acquitted.)⁹

In the midst of this activity, federal prosecutors indicted four current and former partners of Ernst & Young on similar charges. The shelters designed and sold by these partners brought Ernst & Young $120 million in fees. Those familiar with the matter do not expect that the firm itself will face criminal charges in this matter¹⁰; however, on May 8, 2009, four current and former E&Y executives were convicted.

THE ISSUE

KPMG has avoided the fate of Arthur Andersen: dissolution. However, the KPMG case has raised numerous questions about the future of the accounting profession if the small number of international accounting firms should become even smaller. For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission discussed various actions to assist companies in changing auditors if KPMG was indicted, including allowing companies to seek waivers to the stricter independence rules on a case-by-case basis and allowing KPMG to continue to perform audits if it were indicted. An unidentified SEC official indicated that “we have scenarios in place for any eventuality that could come out of this.”¹¹ In addition, prior to the settlement, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, and PricewaterhouseCoopers reportedly requested that their partners not solicit current KPMG clients.¹²

^question:

Provide us a very high-level summary of the Issues in the Case Study (Think who, what, where, and when.)