As we approach the middle of the year, this is the perfect time to consider tax planning for your business and whether you need to make any changes to your current tax strategies.

In the past several years, tax-exempt organizations (hereinafter "Organizations") have faced greater scrutiny and attention from the IRS. As a result, Organizations must adhere to stricter compliance and administrative requirements to maintain their tax-exempt status.

Over the last few years, worker classification initiatives have been a top priority for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Department of Labor (DOL), and state agencies. In 2011, the IRS and DOL signed a memorandum of understanding in an effort to jointly increase worker misclassification audits. Pursuant to the memorandum, the DOL now refers wage and hour investigations involving IRS employment tax compliance issues to the IRS.

Estate planning attorneys and financial planners now have much-needed guidance about "material participation" and "personal services" as they relate to trusts. The Tax Court recently ruled that a trust materially participated in its rental real estate business and therefore could deduct the losses it incurred in conducting those activities as losses from non-passive activities. The court rejected the IRS's argument that "personal services" performed in real estate activities must be performed by an individual, not a trust. This ruling is especially important considering the introduction of the "Medicare Tax" which imposes a 3.8% surtax on net investment income (the definition of net investment income includes income derived from a trade or business that is a passive activity to the investor).

If you are the owner of a business that is open to the public, it is your responsibility to ensure that it is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA") accessibility provisions. While complying with federal laws can be onerous at times, there are certain tax benefits available for making improvements to your office space.

If your company has built a new facility or upgraded an existing one anytime in the past six years, you might find that you qualify -- at least partially -- for a tax break of up to $1.80 per square foot under federal tax code section 179D, or the energy efficient commercial buildings deduction. This could be the case even if you had no concrete intention to focus on green building standards at the time.

If your business or corporation has changed addresses in the past few years, are you certain the IRS was notified about your new address? If you’re not certain, you should check, or you could find yourself in an awkward situation if you’re ever involved in an IRS tax controversy. As a recent ruling by the U.S. Tax Court underscores, you could lose your right to challenge a federal tax lien if you missed the notification when it was misaddressed.