Taxes

No one likes paying taxes, and no one likes being audited. If you are audited, you should hire someone to represent you as there are risks in handling it yourself. For one thing, most criminal IRS cases come out of regular old civil audits and even simple interactions can go south. A good example of

Today’s column addresses questions about what stopping work a number of years before filing means for later Social Security retirement benefit amounts, whether spousal benefits automatically convert to retirement benefits at 70 and how the earnings test can affect early survivor benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder

The Covid-19 pandemic made many pre-existing economic inequalities worse, including the precarious situation of Black and non-white workers and the pressures on women to juggle work and care responsibilities.  The pandemic also magnified economic pressures on vulnerable older workers, and our post-pandemic economic and equity policies must include them. Why do older workers matter to the economy?  First, they make up

Recently, President Biden unveiled his 2022 budget request. Shortly afterwards, and for the first time since the Obama Administration, the U.S. Treasury Department released its General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2022 Revenue Proposals, better known as the “Green Book.” As was widely anticipated, President Biden’s budget calls for some significant changes to the capital

Differences in Opinion on Racism and Diversity- Florida Lawyers Caught in the Middle Although “[a] simple letter to the Business Law Section…would have sufficed”, the Florida Supreme Court has, on its own motion, made law that denies continuing legal education credit to Florida lawyers for programs presented after April 15 that require diversity among course

Filing business-related taxes can often be a time-consuming and complicated process, especially for new entrepreneurs. Small business owners need a good understanding of the federal, state, and local taxes required to file. The types of taxes can range from income, employment, excise, and sales. It is critical that business owners are set up for success

Topline Key Facts The bill would apply an additional 10% tax to individual incomes that exceed $1 million and the income of married couples above $2 million. The surtax would apply equally to wages, for which the top tax rate is 37%, and investment income, including capital gains, for which taxes max out at 20%

             With the new administration calling for a significant increase in funding for the IRS -– many potential tax whistleblowers are considering whether they should now come forward and submit a Form 211 to the IRS.  The Form 211 is the path for submitting information (and requesting an award) to the IRS about individuals and businesses

We’re not in the midst of a global war — traditionally one of the greatest drivers of tax innovation — but some recent rhetoric surrounding international tax reform has adopted a bit of that flavor. In the heady, early days of the OECD’s base erosion and profit-shifting 2.0 project, the constant message streaming from the OECD’s Paris

Nearly all of President Biden’s proposed tax increases would be borne by the highest income 1 percent of households—those making about $800,000 or more—according to a new analysis by the Tax Policy Center. At the same time, Biden would cut taxes for many low- and moderate-income households and reduce them substantially for those with children.

It appears that the White House is planning to make the effective date for its proposed tax increase on long-term capital gains retroactive to April 2021. If this were to happen, it may not only seem unfair, but it is also bad tax policy. President Biden’s American Families Plan proposes increasing the tax rate on

Topline After the release of a major investigation by ProPublica based on over 15 years of confidential data from the Internal Revenue Service showed that the wealthiest Americans often pay little to no federal income tax, the agency’s Commissioner Charles Rettig told lawmakers that internal and external investigators are working to determine whether the data

Today’s column addresses questions about when spousal benefits can become available based on a spouse’s Social Security record, whether a foreign pension will reduce divorced spousal benefits and when a non-covered pension may cause Social Security benefits to be reduced. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president

The IRS Fiscal Year 2022 Budget talks about cryptocurrency and how the service is planning to use in-house technology and outside contractors to reinforce crypto tax compliance. Within the $13.2 billion total 2022 budget, $32 million ($3 million on IT specialist compensation, $6 million on hardware & software and $23 million on contractors) is allocated to

This past Saturday finance officials from the U.S., Britain, Germany, Japan, France, Italy and Canada—the so-called G7–concocted a scheme for imposing a worldwide minimum corporate tax on large international companies of “at least 15%.”  But this episode of What’s Ahead warns that the agreement is only the first in a series of future deals to raise

Season 3 of The Kominsky Method is now streaming on Netflix NFLX , starring Michael Douglas as an aging actor who owns and operates an acting studio. With apologies for being late* to the party, season one features a story line with massive IRS problems that the fictional Sandy Kominsky and his acting studio must

Here I go again, harping on the United States’ stubborn adherence to citizenship-based taxation. I have previously argued that residence-based taxation (RBT) is the superior model for how a government should tax individual income, which could explain why the doctrine is (almost) universally relied on outside the United States. The preference for RBT stems from the

Tax hikes are coming—in fact, they are already in force, assuming they are passed as proposed. The “it’s already effective” rule is designed to prevent selling to get in under the wire. Whether that strategy will work depends on how good your crystal ball is. Make no mistake, these tax hikes pack a punch. The

Finally, after many rounds of talks over many months, the London G7 summit, attended by Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union as a guest, reached a historic agreement to create a common corporate tax rate of 15% for companies with international activities, which will always be

Today’s column addresses questions about whether any spousal benefit amount can be paid in addition to a retirement benefit, whether foreign pensions and be received in addition to Social Security benefits and the maximum benefit a person can receive based on their work record. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and