Taxes

It may be time to get a professional haircut and take your working clothes to the dry cleaner (while being sure they fit over any “pandemic pudge” you may have gained.) Although companies will allow more home-based work than before the pandemic, there’s evidence that office work is on the way back, and could be

Is the IRS broken? It depends on whom you ask. Yesterday Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen tweeted “It’s a stunning achievement. In the midst of a crisis, the IRS has put on a masterclass in implementation and how the machinery of government should work.” The pushback from tax industry professionals was immediate and vehement. Brian Streig,

The first round of aid for state and local governments is set to go out next week, but with no guidance yet on the spending rules, leaders are becoming increasingly frustrated. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) included $350 billion in direct aid to states and localities and the law requires the U.S. Department of

Senate procedures, particularly those for budget reconciliation, mold the tax laws that are created or altered in that process in critical ways. Most recently, the reconciliation process prompted revision of the monthly distribution plans for the child tax credit, resulting in its being changed — at least statutorily — from a monthly benefit into a periodic

Today’s column addresses questions about when to apply to make sure you’ll receive all of the delayed retirement credits (DRCs) you earned by delaying until 70, eligibility for child disability benefits on a second parent’s record and potential options to increase benefit amounts. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the

 The House Ways & Means Committee is once again tinkering with the law that requires retirees to take minimum distributions from their individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401(k)s. Each time, Congress eases the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules at great cost to the federal government. Yet the beneficiaries would overwhelmingly be wealthy retirees and their

In his American Families Plan, President Biden unveiled a tax compliance initiative aimed at closing the gap between taxes that are owed and what are paid. Most of the anticipated revenue, which the Administration estimated at $460 billion over 10 years, would come from requiring financial institutions to report account information that Treasury says would

If you live in California, you likely know it is one of the highest-taxed states when it comes to income taxes; there is some good news for those worried about estate taxes. California is part of the 38 states that don’t impose their own estate tax. Keep in mind; this does not necessarily mean that

In the latest episode of Tax Notes Talk, enrolled agents Eva Rosenberg and Jeffrey Schneider share their experiences on communicating with the IRS during the coronavirus pandemic and how the agency can improve.  The post has been edited for length and clarity. William Hoffman: Welcome, Eva, and welcome, Jeffrey. Today, we’re talking about how tax professionals are dealing with

The long awaited opinion of Judge Mark V. Holmes in the case of the Estate of Michael J. Jackson is finally here. It was one of the most suspenseful things I have ever read. You may want to go read it now because the spoiler is coming soon. Not Going Well For IRS The first hint

In one of the most anticipated United States Tax Court decisions in years, yesterday the Court published a 271 page opinion deciding the fate of the Estate of Michael Jackson v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2021-48. And for the IRS, the Court’s opinion can only be interpreted one way: Bad. Really, Really Bad. In a battle

If you live in California and own some low basis stock (i.e. stock that cost you next to nothing), you may have the opportunity to make money by being charitable. If the president’s tax proposal included in the American Families Plan (AFP) legislation is enacted and you are selling low basis stock, you would end

How do you know whether a tax has been a success or a failure? It’s a question we seldom ask. Most of us rarely think about taxes as possessing these attributes. Our professional interests revolve around other matters, such as the details of a tax’s enactment, implementation, enforcement, and compliance — plus minimizing the tax’s

IRS Commissioner Charles “Chuck” Rettig recently testified before Congress that while the official estimate of the “tax gap” is $400 billion, “it would not be outlandish to believe that the actual tax gap could approach and possibly exceed one trillion dollars per year.” The “tax gap” is the difference between how much should be paid

Frustrated that savvy rich people will hide from the White House’s newly proposed tax hikes last week and sock it away into Bitcoin? Don’t worry. They can’t. And neither can the rest of us. If you’re selling Bitcoin for dollars, especially on a U.S. exchange, Uncle Sam will find out about it. President Joe Biden

Today’s column addresses questions about whether Congress will correct an issue caused by Covid-19 that could mean lower lifelong benefits for those born in 1960, potential repercussions of Social Security overpayments and withdrawing a retirement benefit and reverting to survivor’s benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and

Buried in an already disheartening New York Times article about how homeless Americans are struggling to get their stimulus checks is an even more depressing accusation: finance bros are offering to help homeless people get their stimulus payments, not out of the goodness of their heart, but in exchange for a hefty fee. The anecdote

Cecile Barker has bad news from the Eleventh Circuit. They have upheld the Tax Court’s disallowance of his multi-million dollar net operating loss deduction (NOL) largely generated by SoBe Entertainment LLC. SoBe Entertainment is a record label that has represented numerous artists included Brooke Hogan, daughter of Hulk Hogan.  The indirect Hulk Hogan connection makes Mr. Barker

California legislators have proposed big tax hikes—again, reprising two tax bills introduced in 2020 that failed to pass. With the economy improving and the state hungry for money, perhaps this year will be different. One tax bill would raise the state’s already stratospheric top income tax rate by up to 3.5% for very high incomes.

Last July I wrote an article about what to do about the proposed tax hikes if there were a blue wave and the Democrats were to take over the presidency, House and Senate in the November 2020 elections. While it wasn’t exactly a blue wave, Joe Biden was elected president and the Democrats have narrow