Taxes

Tax Notes reporters recap some of the weirdest stories they encountered in 2022, from the tax troubles of reality stars to a fight over a rather large tax bill for Christmas trees. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. David D. Stewart: Happy holidays from Tax Notes. I’m David Stewart, editor in chief

As corporate finance professionals brace for a fresh set of twists and turns, 2023 is looking like it’s going to be just as disruptive as each of the previous three years. That’s an incredible, seemingly impossible, standard to reach, but with a coming economic downturn, new financial regulations in virtually every jurisdiction, and an emerging

The intersection of taxes and bankruptcy present interesting issues. A recent bankruptcy case demonstrated this by considering whether Earned Income Tax Credit refunds (and their New Mexico state equivalents) can be exempt from creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding. The case shows how the answer can depend on where you live! In this case, under New

The first two pages of the recently released 2015 to 2020 tax returns of Donald Trump, provide some insight into how he invests. It appears that Mr. Trump has relatively very little of his wealth invested in publicly traded stocks. His income from qualified dividends has been between $14,000 and $20,000 for 2017 to 2020.

Every politician’s favorite fantasy is now one step closer to reality. With the public release of former President Trump’s tax returns, the House Ways and Means Committee may have opened a portal into chaos—even more chaos than could be considered normal when it comes to matters that concern interactions between Congress and the IRS. Congress

Special thanks to Brandon Galvao, Dakotah Flint, and Peter Farrell for their assistance in writing this article. Join us January 3, 2023 for New Tax Provisions Update from 5:00 pm to 5:30 pm EST. Email info@gassmanpa.com to register. The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, which was included in the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill signed

As cities struggle with post-pandemic growth, a recent Route Fifty story says Midwestern cities are “reaching beyond traditional incentives,” instead “promoting quality of life benefits.” But two of the cities cited depend either on government spending, or on their status as a wealthy suburb in a metro area. That’s very traditional—and inequitable—for growth, and isn’t

I have been a tax writer of sorts for thirteen years. What I write about is stuff that I find interesting. And I have to tell you that 2022 does not rate that high for interesting. Still there were a few things worth remembering. On reflecting on what I find interesting I realized that it

Congress has passed legislation benefitting savers who have Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and other qualified retirement plans. This legislation improves some of the goodies contained in the original SECURE Act passed at the end of 2019. The original SECURE Act changed the “required beginning date”, the age at which required minimum distributions (RMDs) from IRAs

by Tax Notes State editor Doug Sheppard The hiring of Sharonne Bonardi as executive director of the Federation of Tax Administrators in January 2022 reflected a pattern from throughout her career: She was the first person of color and second woman to earn the role as the head of the nation’s only association supporting the

The two new reports on the IRS’s handling of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns raise more questions than answers. And the most important one is: Why has the agency been so slow to review Trump’s returns? A House Ways & Means Committee report describes the agency’s review of Trump’s tax returns. A separate report

Call it a holiday miracle. The IRS has decided, in the absence of Congressional action, to delay for one year the implemtation of a law that requires payment and e-commerce platforms like PayPal PYPL , Venmo, CashApp, eBay EBAY and Etsy to file Form 1099-K (to taxpayers and the IRS) for anyone receiving over $600

The Internal Revenue Service announced a delay in reporting thresholds for third-party settlement organizations set to take effect for the upcoming tax filing season. As a result of this delay, third-party settlement organizations will not be required to report tax year 2022 transactions on a Form 1099-K to the IRS or the payee for the

Kenneth M. Brooks v Com may be the final decision this year in the IRS battle with dubious conservation easement deductions. The IRS disallowed the deduction on three separate grounds independent of valuation. There was not a proper acknowledgement by the donee, failure to provide “baseline documentation” to the donee and reporting the wrong basis

As holiday shoppers and travelers struggle with severe shortages of retail and hospitality staff, parents are dealing with another shortage—a lack of men to portray Santa Claus. The “Santa Shortage” tells us a lot about the post-pandemic labor market but also illustrates how so-called “shortages” often reflect deeply embedded racial and gender divisions. Let’s start

During the 2022 proxy season, an old question resurfaced: Are investors receptive to corporate tax transparency proposals, and to what extent? Investors tested this question on proxy ballots at Amazon AMZN , Cisco, and Microsoft MSFT , and the results showed that tech shareholders are warming up to transparency, although they haven’t fully embraced it.

As a special Christmas present to all of us, the Secure Act 2.0 is expected to become law right before the holiday. The SECURE Act 2.0 caught a ride on the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that was unveiled on December 19. While the bill presents numerous changes to existing retirement savings and withdrawal rules,

The world’s most famous tax returns are finding their way into the public record. The House Ways and Means Committee has already delivered a broad overview of Donald Trump’s tax filings during a six-year period, and his actual returns are slated for release in a few days. Predictably, people are talking a lot about Trump’s

Here are the critical questions about retirement plans you need to review as the close of this year approaches. Are beneficiary designations correct? There can be dreadful consequences to not designating beneficiaries or having outdated beneficiary designations. The account is likely to go to the wrong person or people, or it might go to the

Welcome to the Tax Policy Center’s annual Lump of Coal Awards for the worst tax ideas of 2022. Since it was an election year in the US and elsewhere and a year of eventful tax legislation, we were left with many misbegotten ideas to choose from. Here are 10 of the worst. 10. Rapping your