Memorandum Essays

Words: 1975
Pages: 8

November 18, 2012

TAX FILE MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT: Peaceful Pastures Funeral Home, Inc. (Peaceful)IRS Audit Notice
Today I met with Peaceful to discuss the IRS audit notice they received regarding the reporting of income from Peaceful’s prepaid program. FACTS: Peaceful does not report payments received from a preneed contract as income until the year in which the funeral service is provided. Peaceful’s preneed contract allows for a refund of payments at the contract purchaser’s request any time until the goods and services are provided.

ISSUE: Should Peaceful include payments received from the prepaid program as income for the year in which they are received?

CONCLUSION: Based upon the refund clause in the contract and the

As democracy and capitalism are spreading around the world, global oil consumption is at record levels. Throughout Latin America, Russia, India and Asia, economic growth is accelerating at a remarkable pace; much faster than anything we have seen in the U.S. Recently, Forbes described the development now exploding across Asia: You can almost smell the money in Shanghai, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpau or just about any East Asian commercial center outside Japan these days. Traffic snarled, construction booming, glitzy shopping malls showing the latest Hollywood movies… These formerly traditional societies, stagnant for centuries, are exploding into the modern capitalist world and spawning vast new middle classes with a taste for consumer goods and the means to indulge that taste. Healthy economics generate great wealth, and Asia is churning out billionaires as though on a conveyor belt.” —Forbes.(Faulkner)
In these countries, more than two billion people, or more than 40% of the world’s population, are suddenly entering the age of consumerism. Thanks to American movies, TVs and VCRs, they have seen what the rest of the world has and they want it all. “They want McDonald’s french fries. They want Coke. They want Levi jeans. They want Caterpillar tractors. They want cars, cameras, mouthwash, homes, toothpaste, Tide, aspirin and ten thousand other products we take for granted. “In vast regions of these countries, they’re starting from the raw basics of modern life. They