Taxes

With a week to go before the new Child Tax Credit being rolls out, President Joe Biden continues to make his vision for America known on a trip to McHenry County College in Illinois on Wednesday, July 7, 2021.  “To truly win the 21st century — and once again lead the world — to truly

Omeed Firouzi with Philadelphia Legal Assistance discusses the upcoming advance child tax credit payments and the related potential challenges for taxpayers and practitioners. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. David D. Stewart: Welcome to the podcast. I’m David Stewart, editor in chief of Tax Notes Today International. This week: extra credit. In mid-July, the IRS

Today’s column addresses questions about whether Social Security reps normally try to convince people to take their retirement benefit before they turn 70, whether to file for retirement benefits after taking survivor benefits and when spousal benefits could be paid along with public pensions. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and

Anyone with earned income can make a non-deductible (after tax) contribution to an IRA and benefit from tax-deferred growth. But it may not be worth it due (in part) to often overlooked ongoing recordkeeping requirements. For many, the biggest risk and most common downfall is significant: paying taxes again when withdrawing the money in retirement.

The American Rescue Plan passed last March included $1.9 trillion in economic relief for individuals and businesses affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to the popular Economic Impact Payments (stimulus checks) the Plan included tax benefits designed specifically to help families, most notably expansions of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Child and

If you face a tax audit and can legitimately point to the statute of limitations to head off trouble and expense, you should. Why should you have to prove you were entitled to a deduction — or find and produce receipts — if it’s too late for the government to make a claim? Rules are

You can stumble across some interesting things on the internet. I recently encountered a Twitter thread related to the OECD’s pillar 1 proposal, which provided thoughtful insights that are worth sharing. The thread examined how pillar 1 would affect various nations in terms of net revenue gains or losses. That’s no trivial matter. The OECD project envisions billions of dollars in

Today’s column addresses questions about filing first on a spouse’s benefits and then for retirement benefits, filing for retroactive retirement benefits after first taking spousal benefits and whether it’s worth taking the option at 70 to file six months retroactively. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president

Today’s column addresses questions about the rate of reduction for filing less than 12 months before full retirement age (FRA), eligibility for benefits based on an ex’s record and how and when delayed retirement credits (DRCs) are applied when filing after FRA. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder

When you set up an account to “transfer on death,” the assets will go directly to beneficiaries upon the owner’s death. While these assignments can help avoid probate, this account titling should still be carefully coordinated with the owner’s overall estate plan, especially for larger accounts and estates. While simply titling an account “Transfer on

It’s already too late to opt out of the first payment of the Advance Child Tax Credit (CTC). Taxpayers still wishing to unenroll need to do so at least three days before the first Thursday of the following month. For example, to unenroll for the August 13 payment a taxpayer must complete the unenrollment process

A growing number of states are using a workaround to help their taxpayers avoid a Trump-era cap on a critical income tax break. Whether it will influence the ongoing push in Congress to repeal the cap altogether remains to be seen. Colorado recently became the 14th state to enact the new workaround, which allows (or

Amid a storm of global volatility, the past 18 months have created unprecedented challenges for multinationals. The economic and social disruption that began in the spring of 2020 has taken a traditionally difficult job of corporate forecasting and impairment and added dozens of new variables. And now, with the world about to take its first

The Biden White House has been publicizing America’s new Juneteenth federal holiday, celebrating the end of Black slavery and the ongoing struggle for real Black independence and equality.  One of the White House’s announcements may have puzzled some people:  “Exclusionary Zoning:  Its Effect on Racial Discrimination in the Housing Market.” Zoning?  We might understand protecting and expanding voting rights,

Here are strategies for people aged 60 to 72 who have left the workforce. 1. Postpone Social Security. Social Security is a lifetime, inflation-adjusted, low-risk annuity. It’s valuable. When you collect before turning 70, you are in effect selling off a piece of that asset and probably getting a poor price for it. Do people

A global minimum corporation tax of at least 15% was one of the central pillars of this month’s G7 meeting in Cornwall, U.K. But a wider group of nations are refusing to support the proposal. Soliciting support for the G7’s “historic commitment” of a global minimum tax rate was never going to be easy. But

The U.S. Supreme Court said this week it won’t hear a case that could have changed how remote workers’ income is taxed around the country. But with the increase in work-from-home employees thanks in large part to habits formed during the pandemic, the issue of which state gets to tax the incomes of these workers

Today’s column addresses questions about the timing of spousal benefits and how restricted application differ from filing and suspending, when divorced spousal benefits can be available and options when disability benefits are discontinued. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc, which markets

RMDs are a simple concept that became complicated after Congress and the IRS were done making their rules. But those rules also create opportunities. Required minimum distributions (RMDs) from traditional IRAs and other qualified retirement plans aren’t suspended in 2021 as they were in 2020. If you have to take RMDs, you might as well

by Tax Notes State Commentary Editor Doug Sheppard Growing up in a rural area of eastern Jamaica in the 1980s, the culinarily inclined Denvil Duncan dreamed of becoming an executive chef on a cruise ship. Inspired by a cousin who worked in that capacity on the luxurious barges that pulled into Jamaican ports, Duncan saw a future in the planning,