Taxes

Tech companies are likely to be hit with tax rises this year as a series of new proposals are muted by multilateral organizations. The first is a “solidarity tax” proposed by the IMF, and designed to fix the income gap between rich and poor that has widened over the past year. It proposes rich nations

Finally the syndicated conservation easement (SCE) empire strikes back. Battered in Tax Court by the IRS, hounded by the Department of Justice seeking criminal charges and injunctions and beleaguered by class action attorneys SCE appraisers are fighting back with a class action lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury along with some individually named IRS

Today’s column addresses questions about an incorrect claim that the new law made it no longer possible to suspend a retirement benefit, whether public pension survivor’s benefits affect Social Security benefits and how the new law changed deeming rules for retirement and spousal benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and

Non-employee platform-based work seems like a sufficiently distinct phenomenon to require changes to either tax forms or the tax code to accommodate the new work arrangements that have arisen over the past decade or so, but the only truly novel element in platform work might be the online platform. The IRS maintains that platform work

U.S. consumers spent over $800 billion online last year, a 44 percent increase over 2019. The pandemic-fueled shift to e-commerce was so significant that IBM estimates the trend away from bricks-and-mortar to digital has been accelerated by five years. On top of that, Americans now pay an average of $47 per month for streaming video

Hawaii and New York rank last in the nation on key economic growth measures, a sign that the pandemic continues to take a toll on major cities and tourism-reliant economies. In its first Index of State Economic Momentum update for 2021, the Federal Funds Information for States’ reports that Hawaii lags the nation’s economic momentum by an

For the second year in a row, you have additional time to file your federal taxes. On March 17th, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service announced that the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year will be automatically extended from April 15, 2021 to May 17, 2021. This

In this episode of Tax Notes Talk, Joel Slemrod and Michael Keen, authors of Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue: Tax Follies and Wisdom Through the Ages, share interesting tax facts and lessons learned from history.  The post has been edited for length and clarity. David Stewart: Welcome to the podcast. I’m David Stewart, editor in chief of Tax Notes

Today’s column addresses questions about whether it’s still possible to take spousal benefits after first receiving retirement benefits, what benefits may be available for survivors of a deceased worker and whether public pensions affect divorced spousal benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security

No country has ever taxed its way to prosperity. Ever. Yet President Biden and congressional Democrats are hell bent on pushing through catastrophic tax increases. This episode of What’s Ahead examines what the ugly results would be. In his infrastructure speech the President outlined some of the business tax boosts that he wants. If enacted,

If you invested in a syndicated conservation easement that had Nancy Zak of Forever Forests as one of the consultants, you should be hearing from her soon. And you won’t like what she tells you. Ms. Zak is one of the defendants in a major Department of Justice (DOJ) injunction push against syndicated conservation easements. And she

Now that a high-level U.N. panel has called for a complete overhaul of the global financial system — including a new U.N. tax convention, a U.N. tax body, and a global minimum tax — what will happen next? In April and June, the U.N. will conduct two highly anticipated events: a 2021 financing for development forum and a U.N. General Assembly special anti-corruption session. It

This segment of What’s Ahead walks us through a cute maneuver the Treasury Department is attempting that could cost taxpayers billions of dollars without congressional approval. It’s arcane, but the money consequences are real. It involves something called Special Drawing Rights, SDRs for short. They were created back in the 1960s, when there were fears

Topline Top earners in New York City—one of the biggest billionaire enclaves in the world—are reportedly on track to pay the highest combined local tax rate in the country as part of a new budget deal among state lawmakers that would raise corporate and income taxes by $4.3 billion annually, the Wall Street Journal reported

Today’s column addresses questions about filing before 70 in case congress raises the retirement age, how benefits are calculated and can be similar despite different earnings records and SSA taxes paid and how the 10 year marriage requirement for divorced spousal benefits can potentially be met. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston

As a pet-loving financial planner, I tend to attract a lot of clients who are also pet lovers. With this in mind, I have been asked countless times if there are any tax breaks for the owners of pets. I would like to share the top five tax deductions for pet owners according to Pawlicy Advisor

On March 25, 2021, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced the “FOR THE 99.5 PERCENT ACT” which will dramatically and historically change estate planning by reducing the federal estate and gift tax credits, increasing estate, gift, and GST tax rates and including assets in certain trusts that are not now includible

The Internal Revenue Service has announced that it’s sent out a third batch of American Rescue Act stimulus payments, and this is the first batch that includes “plus-up” or “supplemental” payments for those who got partial $1,400 payments earlier. The $1,400 payments—a third round of Covid-relief economic income payments—were authorized by the March 11 American

The IRS is actively hunting for crypto tax cheats by demanding cryptocurrency exchanges release user information through “John Doe” summons. Once John Doe summons are issued, exchanges are legally required to release requested user information to the IRS. On March 30, 2021 a John Doe summons was issued to Kraken. On April 1, 2021, another

My Millennial friend (MF) asked me to check out some tax observations on a podcast on Game of Roses by someone who goes by Bachelor Clues(BC). MF’s job calls for them to be in touch with Gen Z, so they have provided me with some valuable leads. Without MF I don’t know when I would have learned