Taxes

Tax Notes Capitol Hill reporters Doug Sword and Frederic Lee examine the record-breaking budget and infrastructure legislation advancing on Capitol Hill and preview potential tax policy proposals coming this fall. 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

The United States has a long history of tax imperialism, stretching back over a century and coincident with the nation’s geopolitical ascendancy. Indeed, the two are intertwined; fiscal imperialism has bolstered America’s national might while also serving as an expression of that power. Scholars in many disciplines have studied economic imperialism for decades, but as Diane

For generations, it did not seem possible that college athletes could earn big before they went pro. Some star high school athletes skipped college for that reason. But now name image likeness deals—NIL for short—are OK, and some athletes will cash in big. Cash means taxes of course, and they can be a rude awakening.

Today’s column addresses questions about the effect of no longer earning income on Social Security benefits, spousal benefit eligibility when a spouse’s disability benefit converts to a standard retirement benefit and the potential availability of divorced spousal benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic

The King of Pop died unexpectedly in 2009. The huge Tax Court victory by his estate might have been his last legal battle, but he had others, most notably the criminal sex abuse charges he famously defeated. In that legal battle and others, he paid big legal fees, even by Hollywood standards. Some estimates put

Today’s column addresses questions about spousal benefits’ effects on the record holder’s retirement benefits, when the Windfall Elimination Provisions (WEP)’s effects can be lessened or removed and when survivor’s benefits may be available. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. See more

Yes—although it’s not as bad as it used to be. Two elements of Social Security contribute to racial inequality. One is that the system rewards marriage. The other is that it rewards longevity. Blacks get shortchanged on both scores. It’s one more illustration of how a seemingly neutral system can have injustice built into it.

We know the pandemic and the policy response to it dramatically increased the number of households that did not pay federal individual income tax in 2020 and will do so again this year. The bump was transitory, caused by a troubled 2020 economy and enactment of massive but temporary tax cuts. But what would happen

In a recent report co-authored with University of Chicago Professor Daniel Hemel, I described how our retirement tax system favors the rich disproportionately. But it’s worse than that: Our system of generous tax subsidies for retirement savings—such as 401(k) plans, other defined contribution plans, and individual retirement accounts (IRAs)—also exacerbates racial inequities. Due in part to

In this episode of Tax Notes Talk, Tax Notes legal reporter Ryan Finley discusses the latest updates in recent transfer pricing cases, including Coca-Cola and Medtronic MDT , and reviews the upcoming Amgen AMGN  case. 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.

Worried about what new taxes are coming? You’re not alone. The bipartisan infrastructure bill (H.R. 3684) released August 1 confirms that Democrats are saving their tax code proposals for an upcoming year-end reconciliation bill like the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. On August 9 Senate Democrats released their long-awaited budget resolution, which includes reconciliation instructions on $3.5 trillion in new spending and

Recently I was puzzling about how it could be that the Tax Court had by mid-August received more petitions than it had in total in each of the past three years. Had I not had the good fortune to retire from active practice in 2018, I might have known. There is a good chance that the

Today’s column addresses questions about taking reduced retirement benefits before later spousal benefits, whether there’s a best time of the year to retirement and the potential availability of spousal benefits after a divorce. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. See more

So, I hear you got married. Congrats! And you’re filing your taxes jointly for the first time, and want to know more about how to do that! Is that right? Just so you know, you don’t have to file jointly, but those romantics at the IRS set up some great tax breaks for marriage. First,

In the second of a two-episode series, Tax Notes contributing editor Marie Sapirie interviews Shuting Pomerleau, a climate policy analyst at the Niskanen Center, about her views on a carbon tax. 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

Every year since 2015 the IRS Security Summit has held a campaign to raise awareness among taxpayers and tax practitioners of the most common threats to information security. The 2021 campaign just ended and featured information on protecting taxpayers and tax practices from pandemic-related tax scams, protecting tax data at home and at work (including

Financial advisors and borrowers will have to get busy if they wish to take advantage of the most recent automatic student loan forgiveness initiative for individuals receiving Social Security disability payments. Today’s press release is relatively straightforward for those who are already receiving Social Security disability payments, but is silent in regards to those whose

Can Benford’s law can help the IRS detect tax evasion just by looking at the first digit of figures entered on tax returns? Benford’s law — also called the Newcomb–Benford law, the law of anomalous numbers, and the first-digit law — is an observation about the distribution of first digits in unmanipulated numerical data sets.

The United States Tax Court is one of the most accessible courts in the federal system, maybe even overall. Well here is some good news and bad news about the Tax Court. The bad news is that it is absolutely swamped by a flood of petitions. The good news ? Well that’s the good news too. It all depends

The COVID-19 pandemic and the policy response to it led to an extraordinary increase in the number of American households that owed no federal individual income tax in 2020. The Tax Policy Center estimates that last year nearly 107 million households, or about 61 percent, owed no income tax or even received tax credits from