Agricultural News
Ag Chairwoman, Ranking Member Press For IRS Guidance For MF Global Customers
Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:45:59 CST
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and Ranking Member Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Ks.) urged the Internal Revenue Service to provide former MF Global customers, who may need to file their taxes with incomplete information, with guidance as income tax filing deadlines are approaching. The firm filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 31, 2011 after revealing that hundreds of millions of dollars in customer money had gone missing.
"Former MF Global customers are still waiting for 1099 forms detailing gains and losses to their accounts in 2011," the letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas H. Shulman states. "The court-appointed trustee applied for and received two extensions from your agency, but the former customers of MF Global must still pay their taxes on time. Many of these customers are farmers and ranchers who have significant planting responsibilities in the spring and we urge your agency to respect the difficult time constraints they are under."
The full text of the letter can be found below.
February 27, 2012
Dear Commissioner Shulman:
We are writing on behalf of the former customers of MF Global, Inc. On October 31, 2011, the firm filed for bankruptcy after revealing that hundreds of millions of dollars in customer money had gone missing. With tax deadlines fast approaching, and with so much uncertainty still remaining over the fate of that money, we ask your agency to issue immediate guidance to MF Global's customers and to be flexible with those customers who may need to file their taxes with incomplete information.
Former MF Global customers are still waiting for 1099 forms detailing gains and losses to their accounts in 2011. The court-appointed trustee applied for and received two extensions from your agency, but the former customers of MF Global must still pay their taxes on time. Many of these customers are farmers and ranchers who have significant planting responsibilities in the spring and we urge your agency to respect the difficult time constraints they are under.
Investigators are still working to untangle MF Global's records, and former customers are faced with the possibility of having to use estimated or inaccurate information that may require them to file additional amended or supplemental tax filings - an unacceptable level of additional red tape and paperwork for the customers who are already suffering hardships because their money went missing. We ask that you issue guidance on the specific rules that apply in the reporting of losses from MF Global's bankruptcy so that the firm's former customers may be able to claim a loss on their missing funds even though the full investigation of the bankruptcy is incomplete. In requesting this guidance, it is our hope that you will work hard to ensure that filing tax returns does not become yet another undue burden for MF Global's former customers.
Sincerely, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman
Sen. Pat Roberts, Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
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