Taxes

Was your tax refund higher this year? Join the crowd. But don’t celebrate. Average tax refund amounts were way up this year over last year, according to the Internal Revenue Service’s recent updates to its cumulative 2021 tax filing season statistics as of October 22. For the 2021 tax filing season (for the 2020 tax year),

The Biden administration is reportedly considering payouts of $450,000 to each person separated from their family at the southern border. A Wall Street Journal report on the potential settlements sparked outrage from some, drawing comparisons to 9/11 compensation. If the settlements happen, the federal government would award money for claims that U.S. government policies left the border

On Friday, the White House held an online meeting advocating housing policies in the President’s Build Back Better (BBB) legislation—reducing land use restrictions and exclusionary zoning that limit affordable housing construction.  Will these result in the “learning and listening” the White House envisions?  Or are these part of Biden’s efforts at “abolishing the suburbs,” as some conservatives claim? The

Congressional Democrats are pushing a bill called the Tobacco Tax Equity Act that would double the federal tax on cigarettes and raise levies on other tobacco products 15-fold. E-cigarettes would also be hit hard. This segment of What’s Ahead explains why this legislation should be snuffed out. The resultant higher prices for less lethal tobacco

The Covid-19 pandemic continues, and just as people speculate about how much it will change our cities, there are claims of historic changes in the job market.  A blog from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management tells us “the workplace is never going to look the same” as a result of the pandemic. But just as with cities, this is

The tragic death of Halyna Hutchins from a gun fired by Alec Baldwin on the set of the movie Rust is shocking. Only to Dr. Paul Heinzelmann, host of the upcoming docuseries SafeSets: Staying Healthy and Sane on Film Productions, it is not so shocking. Not A Surprise Dr. Heinzelmann is one of the small

Though the rollover is the most frequent IRA transaction, most people do only a few rollovers during their lifetimes. Because of this inexperience, mistakes are made and people pay unnecessary taxes and penalties on their retirement nest eggs. There are more than 30 types of rollovers, though taxpayers often know them by different names. A

Thanks to Brandon Ketron, CPA, JD, LLM and Ian McClean for their input on this post. “The Sky Wasn’t Falling” I thought I was Noah but it turned out I was Chicken Little. We all know the story of Noah’s Ark. It was Noah who began to build the Ark just before it started to

The Internal Revenue Service promised it would let families update their income on the Child Tax Credit portal to rightsize their payments this fall, and today announced that the income update functionality will be up and running on Monday, November 1. That’s also the only day—until midnight—you can make updates that will affect your November

After flirting with a plan to tax billionaires on unrealized gains, Democrats have backed off and reverted to a surtax on rich Americans’ income that will barely impact The Forbes 400. Anti-billionaire sentiment and calls to close the wealth inequality gap led Democratic lawmakers earlier this week to float an ambitious plan to tax the

Let’s Dance the 2-Step! Tax advisors and affluent Americans have been working hard to place ownership interests in LLCs and other entities holding their investments under specially designed irrevocable trusts, as gifts or in exchange for promissory notes, in order to have arrangements in place well before the signing of a new estate tax law

What tax hikes are in the social policy and climate change bill that Democrats are trying to pass by year-end? It depends what day it is. The latest version, a revised $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Framework, released today by the White House, is a pared down version of the earlier $3.5 trillion plan. It’s

On Monday, as Tesla shares surged—adding another $26 billion to Elon Musk‘s now $254 billion fortune—certain Democrats in Congress were working away on a proposed new tax on billionaires. Then, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR), unveiled a 107-page plan that would extend the federal long term

Topline Democrats have already nixed a contentious plan to tax the wealth of roughly 700 billionaires, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) confirmed Wednesday, after moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) voiced concerns earlier in the day over the proposed provision in President Joe Biden’s spending package.  Key Facts At a press conference Wednesday, Neal, chair of the

Professor Jacob Goldin of Stanford Law School discusses proposed changes to the advance child tax credit in draft legislation recently released by House Democrats. 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: more extra credit. When

Topline Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Wednesday released the details of a contentious billionaire income tax, revealing how Democrats hope to double down efforts to expand the middle class as they consider unprecedented options to help pay for a massive new social spending package. Key Facts The richest taxpayers would be required to pay a

Ironically, President Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan could remove an important tax credit designed to help thousands of businesses do just that. And it’s likely that small businesses owners in blue states would feel it the most. Called the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), it awards small- and medium-sized businesses up to $28,000 per employee for

Topline As Democrats race to iron out the provisions in their massive new spending plan, one proposal with broad support among moderate party members could actually help the country’s highest earners snag a big tax cut in the first two years—effectively unraveling the gains from a highly publicized proposal to tax billionaire wealth, a nonpartisan

Under intense prodding from Washington a just-concluded confab of 136 nations agreed to new rules for taxing international companies. This segment of What’s Ahead explains why this is a bad deal for the U.S. and should be scuttled by Congress. The Administration hopes to sell a bill of goods to reluctant senators: Other countries are

The Treasury has put out a Fact Sheet on the scaled down bank disclosure reporting requirements currently under consideration – Tax Compliance Proposals Will Improve Tax Fairness While Protecting Taxpayer Privacy. The proposal appears quite controversial. The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board gives us The $10,000 IRS Tax Dragnet. The real political goal here is to create