Taxes

Topline As part of his proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, President Joe Biden on Monday released a proposed minimum income tax rate applying to the highest-earning Americans, marking the first time the White House has ever directly targeted billionaire wealth after a similar Democrat-proposed measure failed to move forward last fall. Key Facts

Everyone likes free stuff, no matter who they are, and the Academy Awards every year hands out pricey gifts. Maybe things are more austere this year, since a gift bag for top nominees in the past has been jam-packed and worth $205,000. This year, it’s a more svelte $140,000 worth of stuff, but that’s still

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about how and when COLAs are applied, switching to spousal benefits after early retirement benefits and divorced survivor’s benefits before retirement benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. Shouldn’t My Age 70 Benefit Estimate Increase

Did it thrill you to see your children cash their first paycheck? Do you display that special kind of inner pride knowing your children have that special kind of responsibility that makes employers want to hire them despite their young age? Then hold on to your seats, it’s about to get a whole lot more

Although gasoline prices get most of the attention in reporting on inflation, there’s another element that’s pushed the numbers up—soaring rents for housing. And even if rent increases slow down, our affordable housing crisis will continue due to the lack of housing supply and persistent low incomes. The data are grim. The national real estate

A funny thing happened to the trillions of dollars of proposed tax increases on corporations and high-income households that were high on the agendas of President Biden and congressional Democrats just a year ago: They seem to have, at least for now, fallen into a deep Capitol Hill hole. And they’ve been replaced by, of

Tax Notes contributing editors Robert Goulder and Joseph J. Thorndike discuss whether inflation is a tax, all in five minutes. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. Robert Goulder: Once upon a time, inflation was the scourge of our national economy, but that was way back in the 1970s. Since then, we’ve had

Tax Notes reporter Andrew Velarde discusses the tax structure dispute in Whirlpool v. Commissioner and the case’s future implications for multinational companies. 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: legal maelstrom. There’s a

The IRS just recently picked up a win in its war on syndicated conservation easement (SCE) deductions. The Sixth Circuit confirmed the full Tax Court decision written by Judge Lauber in Oakbrook Land Holdings. The issue was about what terms are required to make an easement “perpetual”. Before getting into the pretty arcane points Judge

America’s metropolitan regions drive our productivity, wealth, and competitiveness, and as new federal funds flow into them, advocates want them to work together for greater prosperity. But regions will have to overcome their historical and deeply embedded political, economic, and racial conflicts. It’s striking how important metropolitan regions are to our economy. According to the

The complexities of the UK’s indirect tax landscape can be challenging for US trading partners to deal with owing to a lack of familiarity with the rules and requirements. Additionally, the UK’s departure from the EU at the end of January 2020 has resulted in new tax rules impacting cross-border trade. This article sets-out VAT

Too many people do their charitable giving backward. There’s a surge in interest in making contributions near the end of the year. That’s too bad. The benefits of charitable gifts often are maximized when you think about gifts early in the year and throughout the year. That way you maximize deductions and impact plus you

To the dismay of many practitioners and business trade groups, the foreign tax credit regulations issued in January (T.D. 9959) finalized what the 2020 proposed regulations (REG-101657-20) called the “jurisdictional nexus requirement” with only minor changes. Rebranded the “attribution requirement” by the final regulations, the controversial provisions prevent the creditability of foreign tax measures that

The IRS has just issued a reminder to taxpayers that there is a virtual currency question at the top of tax returns you’ll be filing for 2021. The seemingly innocuous question is on Form 1040, Form 1040-SR and Form 1040-NR. It asks: “At any time during 2021, did you receive, sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about how taking early retirement benefits can affect later spousal benefits, effects of the January 2022 COLA on benefits taken later and whether retirement benefits at 70 are required. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc.

As it stands now, Edward Brown will remain in federal prison until 2034, when he will be 91 years old. I recently covered his unsuccessful sentence appeal. This piece will provide background on his first conviction for tax related offenses. It was his reaction to that conviction that led to a much longer sentence for

There is a saying that the road to clarity begins with confusion. For your advisor’s sake, we hope that is true. The IRS issued Proposed Regulations on February 23, 2022 and they are quite extensive. The Proposed Regulations interpret many provisions of the SECURE Act relating to See-Through Trusts. Specifically, the proposed regulations help us

The deadline to file 2021 federal taxes for most people is Monday, April 18. You can forget special Covid extensions this year, but why April 18th? It turns out that April 15 is Emancipation Day, a holiday in Washington, D.C. So the IRS is giving the nation a an extra weekend. Late tax returns incur

The U.S. Government has recently put a rocket on a heretofore quiet whistleblower award program targeting kleptocrats – announcing a multilateral Russian oligarch taskforce. The effort will be to work with our allies to sanction (including asset freezes, civil and criminal asset seizure) individuals and entities that are in league with and enabling Putin and

It can be pretty satisfying to tell the IRS they are too late to audit you. But when might you be able to say that? Your exposure is at least three years after when you file your return, but many people are surprised that you might be a risk for years more. The time periods