Taxes

Celebrating America’s birthday in the company of foreigners can be great fun. I recently spent the Fourth of July with some British expats who live in Washington, D.C., and love it here. While awaiting the fireworks, we joked about the many ways our countries’ cultures differ. My guests remarked that we Americans support the wrong

The IRS Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC) has released its 2023 Annual Report to Congress. The report looks at e-filing practices and data security and makes recommendations to both Congress and the IRS that focus on electronic tax administration and cybersecurity. Background ETAAC was formed and authorized under the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act

Treasury and the IRS promised to release guidance on direct pay and transferability “before summer,” and with proposed regs (REG-101610-23) issued June 14, they met their deadline admirably. Announcing a precise time frame for when proposed rules will be released is less important than their substance, but it’s still a practice that the IRS and

IRS audits of businesses claiming the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) are in full swing. The IRS is looking at companies who may be unfairly claiming it, and also at firms promoting assistance to them who the IRS thinks may be bending the rules. Congress provided vast pandemic tax relief in various forms. One of the

My son came downstairs this morning to wish me very happy on George Washington’s birthday. He knows, of course, that’s not today—Washington was born on February 22, and we celebrate on the third Monday of February—but the joke was still funny. Many people don’t know why we celebrate on July 4, only that it has

The IRS is warning taxpayers about a new scam involving tax refunds. Here’s how the scam works. Fraudsters are mailing taxpayers what looks like a cardboard envelope from a delivery service. The accompanying letter—complete with a fake IRS masthead—suggests that the notice is “in relation to your unclaimed refund.” The letter includes bogus contact information

A fan of Neymar Jr. made headlines last week when he declared that he was leaving his estate to the football phenom. The anonymous fan told the online newspaper Metrópoles that, in addition to his love for the Brazilian national team, he identified with the Paris Saint-Germain striker. He said, in an interview, “I like

Steve Rosenthal of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center reviews the GOP tax package approved by the House Ways and Means Committee, specifically the proposed individual and business tax cuts. 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

A recent case demonstrates the impact that a stock-purchase agreement and life insurance can have (or not have) on the valuation of a closely held company for estate tax purposes. Before diving into the case, some context is helpful. It is not uncommon for closely held businesses to have buy-sell agreements. In many instances, the

Some countries are considering making changes to their international tax laws on transfer pricing, and it may be wise for the United States to consider doing so as well. There is a pattern of countries enacting relatively vague transfer pricing legislation and then leaving it in place untouched for decades. The United States, for example,

If you live in California or certain other disaster areas, watch your mail. The IRS is sending a special follow-up mailing to taxpayers in several states affected by disasters to let them know that they have additional time to pay their taxes. The IRS is taking this special step to help reassure taxpayers affected by

The death of New York’s Richard Ravitch, a legendary civic and economic expert and problem solver, prompted the New York Times’ Ginia Bellafante to recall the city’s brush with bankruptcy in the 1970s. Noting Ravitch’s role in bringing unions into the city’s financial rescue, Bellafante wonders “could such an alliance happen today?” Sadly, probably not.

It is important for all taxpayers to be at least aware of the power of the IRS, in an effort to incentivize compliance. This is due to the IRS possessing many arrows in its quiver to enforce US taxpayers’ payment of a deficiency. The IRS possesses an assessment statute of limitations which is generally three

A Nigerian national who targeted elderly U.S. victims has been sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for his role in the scheme. Emmanuel Samuel, 39, was charged as part of a group of fraudsters that sent personalized letters to elderly victims in the U.S. Earlier this year, Samuel, along with Iheanyichukwu Jonathan Abraham and

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) governs some of the most complex laws in the world. Beyond the complexity, the pace of change in the tax code is hard to keep up with year after year. This month, the latest round of proposed tax changes have implications for individuals and business owners. House Republicans released drafts

Taxes are complex, and the line between creative tax planning and tax evasion isn’t always clear. How aggressive are you being? Are you claiming something the IRS may view as over the top? Do you have exposure for past years, and would amending your past tax returns make the situation better or worse? What is

The Supreme Court has added a new tax case to its docket for the 2023-24 term: Moore v. United States. As a result, the Court will consider whether a relatively new tax—the “mandatory repatriation tax”—created under a provision of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is unconstitutional under the Sixteenth Amendment. The case could

Antawn Jamal Sanders has probably set a record although he is not likely pleased. How close can you get to having a Tax Court petition be timely, but still have it be late? Mr. Sanders missed by 11 seconds, maybe 9 seconds depending on how you look at it. Or maybe we could say a

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is expected to release a much-anticipated report on international tax cooperation within a few weeks. As the international tax community waits — and speculates — on what that report might say, the secretary-general recently offered a small hint. At the end of May he released a report calling for a new

IRS funding is back in the news. Less than a month after a debt ceiling agreement that would claw back some of the IRS funding previously authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), a bill is back in the House to reduce the agency’s funding even more. The bill would also impose various