Taxes

The leaders of Congress’s main tax-writing committee are wondering if the Internal Revenue Service will be ready to handle next tax season as it’s still processing millions of pieces of correspondence that went unopened for months during the COVID-19 pandemic. House Ways and Means Committee chairman Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, and Oversight Subcommittee chairman Bill Pascrell,

The Internal Revenue Service said Friday it would restart issuing its 500 series of balance-due notices to taxpayers later this month after they were paused on May 9 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the IRS continued to issue most of its notices, the 500 series was temporarily suspended because of a backlog of mail

The Internal Revenue Service is offering less generous settlement terms to participants in micro-captive insurance schemes as part of its clampdown on the transactions. The IRS said Thursday it will be sending settlement offers with terms that are stricter than ones it offered last year under an earlier micro-captive initiative. The IRS has been focusing

The Internal Revenue Service is now allowing tax advisors and taxpayers to fax the Form 8918, Material Advisor Disclosure Statement, as part of its response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the IRS has been easing its requirements for mailing various types of tax documents by providing secure fax capability. The

Former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s tax proposal will limit direct tax increases to just 1.9 percent of taxpayers, a significant departure from the policies and impact of major tax revisions proposed by President Trump and enacted in late 2017, according to a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Wagering and taxes; taming email; to NEC or not; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers. Illegal money Avalara (https://www.avalara.com/us/en/blog.html): Favorite opening of the week: “Words matter. If they didn’t, lawmakers wouldn’t bother changing them, as the Vermont Legislature did recently” with a tiny “any” to a tiny “the” in regard to tax on

The New York Stock Exchange told New Jersey lawmakers that it’s prepared to move operations out of state should they impose a new tax on electronic trades via data servers. In late September, the world’s largest exchange by market capitalization conducted a test “for a wholesale transition out of New Jersey,” Hope Jarkowski, co-head of

Robert T. Brockman, a Houston software tycoon, was charged with using a web of Caribbean entities to hide $2 billion in income in what prosecutors called the largest U.S. tax case ever against an individual. Brockman, 79, used a family charitable trust based in Bermuda and other offshore entities to hide assets from the Internal

Billionaire Robert Smith will pay about $140 million and acknowledge wrongdoing to end a four-year U.S. tax investigation involving assets held in offshore tax havens, people familiar with the matter said. Smith, chief executive officer of the private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, informed some executives and investors of the pending agreement on Wednesday, the

Next month, Arizona voters will decide whether to create a new fifth income tax bracket that would raise the top rate from 4.5 percent to 8 percent. Proposition 208 would create an additional 3.5 percent tax on income above $250,000 ($500,000 for joint filers) to generate additional revenue for education. The tax would be levied

Because the majority of taxpayers in America take the standard deduction — meaning they do not elect to itemize — charitable donations aren’t necessarily a big consideration come tax time. Due to the CARES Act, however, things are a bit different for 2020. Thanks to federal coronavirus relief legislation, taxpayers are now able to take

Three defaults and you’re out; scheme of several years; misstep by misstep; and other highlights of recent tax cases. North Brunswick, New Jersey: Preparer Juan Solano, 46, has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison for income tax evasion. Solano was the owner of J&C Solano Tax Service; during 2016 he reported

While there is still plenty of work to be done to get unemployed Americans back to work, the U.S. economy as a whole is now recovering strongly from the pandemic-induced economic downturn, outperforming forecasts from earlier in the year and outperforming most other developed countries. The Atlanta Federal Reserve’s “nowcast” indicates that the U.S. economy

Sept. 1, 2020 marked the first day of the Federal payroll tax deferral, which is a temporary suspension of the 6.2% Social Security tax most traditional employees pay out of each paycheck. We answer your burning questions below. 1. What is the payroll tax deferral? On August 8, President Trump issued a memorandum to the

The Internal Revenue Service is giving taxpayers until the end of the year before it stops its temporary procedures for faxing in Forms 1045 and 1139 for claiming tentative tax refunds, instead of mailing them, which it has allowed as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, the IRS began allowing taxpayers

Last week, Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) introduced H.R. 11, the Commitment to American GROWTH Act, outlining an alternative to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s tax vision. The proposal would address upcoming expirations of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and create or expand other tax

Online shopping is nothing new in our increasingly digital world, but 2020’s extended lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic have made it even more popular. You can order groceries, get a hot meal delivered, or even buy a kite for socially-distanced fun, all without leaving your couch. The system is simple and streamlined—at least for

Curious what all the fuss is about with Public Service Loan Forgiveness? We answer your top questions, including whether forbearance on your loans in 2020 will impact your tax return. 1. What is Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)? Public Service Loan Forgiveness is a federal program many people rely on to have their student loan

CFOs and other C suite executives are far more concerned about changes in corporate tax policy during a Joe Biden administration than if President Trump is re-elected, according to a new survey by PwC. The survey of 536 C suite leaders found them to be significantly more concerned about potential change to corporate taxes policies

Launch Interactive Tool Note: Each year we review and improve the methodology of the Index. For that reason, prior editions are not comparable to the results in this 2020 edition. All data and methodological notes are accessible in our GitHub repository. Introduction The structure of a country’s tax code is an important determinant of its economic