Taxes

Tax Planning is an essential part of being a business owner. As your income grows, the options may seem more complicated, but they are also more valuable. Filing your taxes is not fun, and most business owners are busy, so proactive tax planning tends to get pushed aside. This can often result in higher than

Today’s column addresses questions about how divorced spousal benefits are calculated, how state pensions can affect spousal benefits and whether COLAs apply to widow’s benefits taken years after the record holder’s death. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. See more Ask

The good news: The Internal Revenue Service says it’s on track to dig out of the pandemic-related backlog of tax year 2020 returns by year end 2021—just in time for the 2022 tax filing season to kick off. The bad news: Millions of taxpayers are still waiting for refunds and/or struggling to understand IRS notices

Kent Hovind’s half-billion dollar lawsuit against the United States and various individuals implicated in his nearly decade long imprisonment appears to be totally done. But that’s currently the least of his legal problems. On September 21, Judge Clinton Hyde of District Court of Conecuh County Alabama found Hovind guilty of third degree domestic assault against Cindi Lincoln,

With the festivities starting for Halloween, Congress has chosen to provide tricks rather than treats in their desire to increase taxes and push through significant tax law changes through a process called budget reconciliation. As Congress holds the federal purse strings, they can focus on policy regarding spending and revenue through the budget reconciliation process, which

Tax Notes Capitol Hill reporters Doug Sword and Frederic Lee return to discuss the latest tax developments with the recordbreaking infrastructure and reconciliation legislation advancing in Congress. 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: So many

Today’s employment report for September was surprisingly weak in terms of job growth—only 194,000 new jobs.  Analysts blame the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant for the slowdown, and it shows the economy isn’t out of the woods yet.  The news should encourage Congress (really just Democrats) to pass a large economic stimulus bill. Job growth wasn’t expected to

The economy created jobs at a much slower than expected pace in September, with payrolls rising by just 194,000 in the month compared to the Dow Jones estimate of 500,000, the Labor Department reported Friday. Looking at the most recent numbers by state, it’s clear that some places are lagging far more behind than others.

Many states recently enacted “SALT cap workaround” legislation enabling pass-through entities (PTE) to deduct entity-level SALT payments as a business expense in place of non-deductible itemized deductions over the “SALT cap” of $10,000 per individual tax return. Currently, 20 states have enacted this legislation, and others are considering it. The SALT cap workaround is not

Today’s column addresses questions about the potential effects of pensions on the availability of spousal benefits, statistics about what benefit amounts different people receive and potential effects of filing for survivor’s benefits early and while working. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning,

Immigrant parents are less likely to have heard about the expanded child tax credit (CTC) than parents born in the United States, according to a survey conducted in early July. They’re more likely to see the credit as a way to invest in their children’s education and pay for child care and health care. The American Recovery Plan temporarily

I thank my partner Brandon Ketron, CPA, JD, LLM for his assistance with this post. The estate tax revisions released by the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives on September 13th have our full attention for very good reason, given that the effective date of significant changes would be the date that

Robert Goulder of Tax Notes and Reuven Avi-Yonah of the University of Michigan Law School discuss the potential issues in the latest international tax proposals spearheaded by Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Here are a few highlights from their discussion, edited for length and clarity. Robert Goulder: Welcome to the September edition of In The Pages.

A San Francisco jury ruled that Tesla TSLA must pay $137 million in a workplace racism case in which a Black man alleged that he endured racist abuse while working at Tesla’s Fremont California plant. Owen Diaz alleged that he suffered racist remarks and abuse causing him sleepless nights, weight loss, and loss of appetite.

The new WikiLeaks style disclosures and “revelations” about offshore and domestic “secret trust” arrangements will reveal a great many legitimate and perfectly legal family planning arrangements that are commonly established for non-tax purposes by U.S. and non-U.S. taxpayers. The Asset Protection Trust It is perfectly legal and the right of any U.S. taxpayer to establish

           The House reported out the “Build Back Better Act” late last month, closely following the proposed tax law changes by Senators Sanders and Van Hollen. Each makes somewhat different proposals, and the Act is far from finalized, what is clear is that any of these proposals, if enacted, will have significant impact on not only future

Today’s column addresses questions about whether and how public pensions could affect survivor’s benefits, the merits of delaying until 70 to file if possible and whether spousal benefits are available after long term separation. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. See

A perplexing attribute of the U.S. tax system is that successive reform efforts tend to layer new regimes on top of old ones without bothering to repeal the latter. It’s as if retention of the older regimes provides a sense of security, regardless of how out-of-date or flawed they might be. Familiarity brings comfort. Familiarity

October 2021 Experience has shown that many organizations are struggling with the changes arising from Brexit to the process for bringing goods to the UK, the consequent requirements for customs declarations, and paying and reclaiming import VAT. Frequently, businesses are unsure whether they have paid import VAT and, if so, how it is to be

A friend of mine, in an animated mood once declared, “everything is in flux; it’s fluxing more and more each day!” That’s how many feel about the back and forth pronouncements concerning proposed tax changes. In Congress, the revenue raising provisions (think “taxes”) to fund the physical and human infrastructure bills seem to be getting