Taxes

In a recent report co-authored with University of Chicago Professor Daniel Hemel, I described how our retirement tax system favors the rich disproportionately. But it’s worse than that: Our system of generous tax subsidies for retirement savings—such as 401(k) plans, other defined contribution plans, and individual retirement accounts (IRAs)—also exacerbates racial inequities. Due in part to

In this episode of Tax Notes Talk, Tax Notes legal reporter Ryan Finley discusses the latest updates in recent transfer pricing cases, including Coca-Cola and Medtronic MDT , and reviews the upcoming Amgen AMGN  case. 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.

Worried about what new taxes are coming? You’re not alone. The bipartisan infrastructure bill (H.R. 3684) released August 1 confirms that Democrats are saving their tax code proposals for an upcoming year-end reconciliation bill like the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. On August 9 Senate Democrats released their long-awaited budget resolution, which includes reconciliation instructions on $3.5 trillion in new spending and

Recently I was puzzling about how it could be that the Tax Court had by mid-August received more petitions than it had in total in each of the past three years. Had I not had the good fortune to retire from active practice in 2018, I might have known. There is a good chance that the

Today’s column addresses questions about taking reduced retirement benefits before later spousal benefits, whether there’s a best time of the year to retirement and the potential availability of spousal benefits after a divorce. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. See more

Can Benford’s law can help the IRS detect tax evasion just by looking at the first digit of figures entered on tax returns? Benford’s law — also called the Newcomb–Benford law, the law of anomalous numbers, and the first-digit law — is an observation about the distribution of first digits in unmanipulated numerical data sets.

So, I hear you got married. Congrats! And you’re filing your taxes jointly for the first time, and want to know more about how to do that! Is that right? Just so you know, you don’t have to file jointly, but those romantics at the IRS set up some great tax breaks for marriage. First,

In the second of a two-episode series, Tax Notes contributing editor Marie Sapirie interviews Shuting Pomerleau, a climate policy analyst at the Niskanen Center, about her views on a carbon tax. 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

Every year since 2015 the IRS Security Summit has held a campaign to raise awareness among taxpayers and tax practitioners of the most common threats to information security. The 2021 campaign just ended and featured information on protecting taxpayers and tax practices from pandemic-related tax scams, protecting tax data at home and at work (including

Financial advisors and borrowers will have to get busy if they wish to take advantage of the most recent automatic student loan forgiveness initiative for individuals receiving Social Security disability payments. Today’s press release is relatively straightforward for those who are already receiving Social Security disability payments, but is silent in regards to those whose

Today’s column addresses questions about whether cost of living allowances are applied to retirement benefits at 70 after receiving spousal benefits, taking divorced spousal benefits after disability benefits and the availability of survivor’s benefits after taking spousal benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic

The United States Tax Court is one of the most accessible courts in the federal system, maybe even overall. Well here is some good news and bad news about the Tax Court. The bad news is that it is absolutely swamped by a flood of petitions. The good news ? Well that’s the good news too. It all depends

The COVID-19 pandemic and the policy response to it led to an extraordinary increase in the number of American households that owed no federal individual income tax in 2020. The Tax Policy Center estimates that last year nearly 107 million households, or about 61 percent, owed no income tax or even received tax credits from

Today’s column addresses questions about whether previous cost of living allowances (COLAs) apply to spousal benefits taken later, whether earlier COLAs apply to widow’s benefits and taking disability benefits before widow’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

It’s no secret that the IRS is after crypto in a big way, with warnings, a series of cryptocurrency John Doe Summonses served on exchanges and even a crypto question on every tax return. Selling crypto can obviously trigger taxes, but even buying something with crypto can trigger taxes. In fact, even paying taxes in crypto can

The law on the limits of state tax and regulatory authority regarding Native American tribes is complicated. The law may seem clear, yet there are instances in which a different interpretation is applied, as with the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Big Sandy. Setting the Scene California has comprehensive regulations designed to reduce illegal trafficking in cigarette and

The Taliban, in a shocking blitzkrieg, have swept through Afghanistan in less than a month, the 300,000-man Afghan army all but melting away in their path. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, as he fled to Tajikstan over the weekend, conceded in a statement that the Taliban had won, “with the judgement of their swords and guns,

Forty years ago today, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, the largest tax cut in American history.  This segment of What’s Ahead outlines how this historic legislation set in motion a train of events that led to an outcome once considered an utter impossibility: the peaceable collapse of

Today’s column addresses questions about whether Social Security employees are really correct when they deny the ability to suspend a retirement benefits, turning 62 when receiving disability benefits and the ability to collect survivor’s benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc,

The Tax Court decision in the case of the Estate of Michael Jackson is a rare combination. The celebrity nature of the case broke it out of the tax ghetto of the blogosphere, which doesn’t happen every day. And within the tax world it sets a sort of precedent in the area of celebrity “image and likeness”. Like