Taxes

New regulations issued under sections 1291, 1297, and 1298 clarify whether a foreign corporation is treated as a passive foreign investment company and whether a U.S. person that indirectly owns stock in a PFIC is treated as a shareholder. Final regs issued January 15 (and corrected March 5 and March 10) retained the basic approach and structure of

Bahrain’s government is planning to double its rate of value-added tax (VAT) to 10%, according to Bloomberg, in an effort to curb its large budget deficit. The move echoes a similar change by Saudi Arabia last year, when it tripled its rate of VAT to 15% – although, as some observers have pointed out, the

The revenue portion of the Build Back Better Act (BBB) that is moving along dramatically changes the landscape for transfer taxes (i.e. gift and estate). Accelerating the scheduled reduction in the unified credit from $10 million to $5 million (indexed for inflation from 2010) is most noticeable. For those of us who are fond of round numbers,

Welcome to Fall. The season where, predicably, the weather gets cooler, the leaves change color, and Congress puts on its annual fiscal crisis. This year, we all get to watch a quadruple-header: Will Congress pass a $1 trillion—or perhaps $552 billion— infrastructure bill? Will Congress approve a massive social spending bill including major tax increases

Thanks to historic investment returns over the last year, state public pension plans are in their best shape since the Great Recession. After state pension debt grew to more than $1.4 trillion last year, two new reports estimate that gap between the total amount states have promised to retirees and what they’ve actually set aside

Today’s column addresses questions about whether it would be good to wait till January to file ensure all current earnings are used to determine benefit amounts, requesting an Administrative Law Judge hearing and the availability of larger childhood disability benefits (CDBs) when the higher earner files. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston

After around 12 months of significant upheaval, organizations trading in goods are taking a period of reflection to assess how well their post-Brexit international supply chains have been working. Others have carried out exercises to address any gaps that may have appeared with their VAT and Customs Duty compliance obligations.  This article focuses on several

Helping people to save more for retirement is a popular idea in Congress these days. But this episode of What’s Ahead warns that a big change that just cleared a critical committee in the House of Representatives would do far more harm than good. Moreover, it would be an administrative nightmare. The proposal would force

What state taxes apply if you are stuck in California or another state during the pandemic? Do you pay tax where you shelter in place, even if you don’t normally live there? Do you pay tax in your home state, even though you are not sheltering there? Do you get stuck paying in both? Some

When you are planning for a retirement income you can’t outlive, you must not forget about taxes. How much you will owe in taxes during your retirement years will depend on a combination of how your retirement income is generated and the dollar amount of your retirement income stream. Sadly, many pre-retirees forget about taxes

The past 18-month stretch has been challenging with health, social, and financial turmoil seeming to come daily. As many are looking forward to the future, they are also excited to finalize their 2020 individual federal income tax filings by October 15th and put 2020 in the rear-view window.  But before any 2020 individual income tax returns

Jordan Bass of the firm Taxing Cryptocurrency discusses the proposed cryptocurrency tax changes that Congress is considering and how they could affect taxpayers and the digital asset industry. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. Marie Sapirie: Thank you, Jordan, for joining me today to discuss the rapidly changing tax rules and in particular,

The proposed tax legislation coming out of House Ways and Means addresses a long running dispute between sponsors of low income housing tax credit deals and investors. The legislation favors the sponsors. To understand the issue I need to briefly explain how the credit works.  Overview Of The Credit  The owner of the building, typically a partnership,

As the US continues struggling with Covid-19 and economic recovery, debate is growing about the revival of “industrial policy”—government -led efforts to favor certain industries over others, in contradiction to market fundamentalist approaches.  An important new forum in the Boston Review takes on these issues and is well worth your attention.  For our future prosperity, these issues are more

Employees with stock options in a private company face a big obstacle that employees in public companies do not: you cannot sell the stock to fund the exercise price and any taxes. For insights on what you can do, and the growth in firms that provide financing to exercise private company stock options, I turned

On September 3 the Texas Supreme Court agreed to hear Sirius XM Radio, concerning whether the state properly apportioned the taxpayer’s activities within the jurisdiction for purposes of calculating its franchise tax liability. While there are several issues in play, the critical one is whether the state’s interpretation of the relevant statutes in this case is contrary to the

Today’s column addresses questions about eligibility for spousal benefits, what being born after 1/1/1954 means for spousal benefit eligibility and working while receiving disability benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. See more Ask Larry answers here. Have Social Security questions

A new analysis on remote work job applications shows that smaller, more affordable metro areas are so far reaping the benefits of the boom in remote work. The analysis of data from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph team shows remote work opportunities as of August were capturing 30.2% of all applications to paid U.S. job postings on

Amid all the chatter about what might be included in the forthcoming budget reconciliation package, there’s one detail you should keep an eye on. It concerns the degree to which the U.S. tax code should favor foreign profits relative to domestic profits. This is a billion-dollar issue given how adept multinational corporations have become at

Today’s column addresses questions about whether and where domestic partners can qualify as married for Social Security benefits, potential effects of selling a home while receiving Social Security disability benefits and ways to increase benefit rates for people who never married. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and