Taxes

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about who can get new COLAs, how soon spouses can apply for spousal benefits and how filing early can affect spousal and survivor’s benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. See more Ask Larry answers

Former IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, now with Alliantgroup, discusses the need to identify the agency’s next leader and how the IRS should use its additional funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. 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

For many participants in nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans, November and December are the time to be like an autumn squirrel and decide how much of next year’s salary to defer and store for the future. This decision about nonqualified plans is heavily influenced by the IRS contribution limits for qualified retirement plans. The IRS

Urban planners are used to being ignored by the larger public, media, and culture. So it’s shocking that New York theater’s hottest ticket isn’t “Hamilton”, or the Michael Jackson musical, but The Shed’s production of “Straight Line Crazy”—a play about New York’s controversial urban planner and master builder Robert Moses. Written by award-winning British playwright

The Inflation Reduction Act recently signed into law by President Biden provides for $80 billion in increased IRS funding over ten years. This increased budget will provide for the hiring of tens of thousands of additional and replacement IRS employees. Despite the claim that new enforcement is to focus on higher income taxpayers, Republicans in

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about how spousal benefit amounts are calculated, whether previous COLAs can increase spousal benefit rates and when spousal benefits can be higher than retirement benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. See more Ask Larry

Earlier this month, Heinrich Schweizer got bad news from my favorite Tax Court judge Albert Lauber, “Scholar Al” as Lew Taishoff has dubbed him. Lauber ruled that Schweizer’s failure to meet the disclosure requirements for a charitable contribution of property was not “due to reasonable cause”. The opinion illustrates Reilly’s Fourth Law of Tax planning

We have lost a great truth-teller about cities, inequality, and American social and economic life. On Tuesday, after a long bout with cancer, Los Angeles writer and activist Mike Davis died at age 76. Davis was always enlightening, amusing, and oddly both apocalyptic and hopeful, even as he chronicled America’s (and the world’s) unequal urban,

Many urban downtowns hope converting empty and underused office buildings to apartments will mitigate the fiscal impacts of increased working from home. But can office districts and buildings be converted to residential, building new neighborhoods? A great exhibit at New York’s Skyscraper Museum, curated by Museum Founder and Director Carol Willis, says “yes” by documenting

Structured settlements can help resolve most any case and are regularly used in personal injury lawsuits. They increase the value for a plaintiff of the defendant’s payment, “bridging the gap” between negotiating parties. Afterward, the plaintiff can depend on monthly, annual, and even lifetime payments. Often, news articles about “structures” tell stories of fraud. And

Recent years’ tax acts don’t change trader tax status (TTS), Section 475 MTM accounting, wash-sale losses on securities, or the tax treatment on financial products, including futures (Section 1256 contracts) and cryptocurrencies (intangible property). It’s helpful to consider IRS inflation adjustments in income and capital gains tax brackets, various income thresholds and caps, retirement plan

Tax return preparation service Liberty Tax TAX is being sued by the District of Columbia for allegedly cheating customers by luring them with a cash bonus program, while secretly increasing their preparation charges. The lawsuit feeds into a long-running debate over whether there should be better federal regulation of the tax return preparation industry. During

If you didn’t know (and many people don’t), a tax credit is more valuable than a tax deduction. A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the taxes you will owe in a year. In contrast, a tax deduction will likely only save you pennies on the dollar. A tax deduction for the highest earners

After dramatically rising during the worst of the pandemic, the number of households who pay no federal income tax has fallen sharply. It will remain relatively steady in absolute numbers and as a share of tax filers as long as the job market remains relatively healthy and until the individual tax provisions of the 2017

If you have young grandchildren, take a fresh look at 529 education savings plans. These plans always were good estate planning tools, but changes in recent years make them more attractive ways for grandparents to help grandchildren. You can set up a 529 savings plan account for any beneficiary, and you can set up accounts

Wedding photographer Scott Burton of Oxford MS was not charging sales tax on his wedding packages. To a couple facing say a $5,000 tab for his service, you could see tacking on another $350 for the 7% Mississippi sales tax would make a difference. Unfortunately, on audit the Mississippi Department of Revenue (MDOR) determined that

U.S. Tax Court Chief Judge Kathleen Kerrigan discusses the court’s post-COVID transition and case management system, and how the additional funding from the Inflation Reduction Act may be used. 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

The Internal Revenue Service recently announced its inflation adjustments to the standard deduction and federal income tax brackets for 2023. Knowing these numbers can allow you to make some smart tax-planning moves before the year’s end. If you expect to be in a low bracket next year, you may want to try and delay some

City budgets have been recovering from the pandemic recession, helped by significant federal aid. But just when things were looking up, cities now are preparing for a double whammy: less tax revenue from a coming recession, and higher borrowing costs from the Fed’s actions. That means tighter budgets and fewer resources to help our poorest

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about earning delayed retirement credits (DRCs) while receiving child-in-care spousal benefits, the possibility and advisability of taking spousal benefits before retirement benefits and withdrawing a spousal benefit application. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. See