Taxes

RMDs are a simple concept that became complicated after Congress and the IRS were done making their rules. But those rules also create opportunities. Required minimum distributions (RMDs) from traditional IRAs and other qualified retirement plans aren’t suspended in 2021 as they were in 2020. If you have to take RMDs, you might as well

by Tax Notes State Commentary Editor Doug Sheppard Growing up in a rural area of eastern Jamaica in the 1980s, the culinarily inclined Denvil Duncan dreamed of becoming an executive chef on a cruise ship. Inspired by a cousin who worked in that capacity on the luxurious barges that pulled into Jamaican ports, Duncan saw a future in the planning,

Legal disputes come in all shapes and sizes, and there are almost always tax issues that face plaintiffs, defendants, or both. Plaintiffs receiving money worry if and how it is taxable, and whether they can deduct their attorney fees. Even without the complex rules governing qualified pension and retirement plans, the tax treatment of a

Since 2018, taxpayers living in high-tax states have been unable to take an itemized deduction of state and local taxes over a limitation (known as the “SALT” cap) of $10,000 per year. This limitation came from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and is effective for tax years 2018 through 2025. But the good

John Sheeley couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was listening to brand new IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig deliver a keynote address at a tax conference in the summer of 2019. Commissioner Rettig told the group of tax professionals that, in addition to the obvious staff shortages and budget cuts, another reason calls to the

While recent reporting may make it seem that all “rich” people are able to avoid paying taxes, I assure you there are plenty of high-income and high-net-worth people who feel like they are getting kicked in the nuts with substantial tax bills. There is a reason my phone blows up every year around tax season

Profitable traders are keen on maximizing retirement plan contributions in trading activities and also in their full-time jobs. Traders are pros at investing, and they understand the power of tax-free compounding while saving for retirement. However, wages are required to make contributions to a retirement plan. Active traders eligible for trader tax status (TTS) can use an S-Corp

The Eleventh Circuit has dealt a blow to the beleaguered syndicated conservation easement (SCE) industry in its decision upholding the Tax Court in TOT Property Holdings LLC v IRS. As I have noted elsewhere SCE is an industry based on nonsense. Investors buy into a partnership that has recently acquired a property. They then vote to donate an

Beginning in July, most families with children will receive up to $250 a month per child ($300 for children under 6). Those payments are advances of the Child Tax Credit (CTC), which was temporarily expanded in the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The CTC expansion and monthly advance payments should be extended past their scheduled expiration in 2021. But that’s

Another month, another explosive rise in home prices.  May’s median annual housing price rose 23.6%, a new monthly record.   Buyers are still buying, helped by low interest and mortgage rates.  But since housing construction hasn’t kept pace with demand and economic growth, it will take more housing production to reduce long-term pressure on prices. The buying pressure in housing

“If you think the Bahamas has ruined your global tax system, you have a pretty terrible global tax system.” That’s what Steven Dean, a professor at Brooklyn Law School, told Tax Notes contributing editor Robert Goulder last summer during a broader discussion about international tax policy. They were specifically discussing tax haven blacklists and the ways those lists have been racialized

States received billions of dollars from the federal government to help them manage the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 but one-quarter of them still had to cut spending over the last year to get by. A total of 12 states had to cut a combined $4.1 billion from their budgets in order to balance out projected

Looking to buy a house, but think house prices are going crazy?  You’re not wrong. Housing prices are rocketing upwards across the country, showing their biggest annual gain since 2005.  Existing homeowners are adding to their housing wealth, while younger, less affluent, and nonwhite buyers are facing little supply and rising costs. Housing price pressures are found across

Joseph Bishop-Henchman of the National Taxpayers Union Foundation discusses the litigation of a provision in the American Rescue Plan Act restricting states from using federal funds provided by the law to offset reductions in net tax revenue.  This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. David D. Stewart: Welcome to the podcast. I’m David Stewart, editor

The IRS says exchanges of one type of crypto for another are taxable, even if no cash changes hands. However, what about before January 1, 2018, was it tax free? You didn’t get cash, so there shouldn’t be any income or gain for the IRS to tax, right? If the IRS mines all the crypto

A corporate minimum tax seems all but certain. The G-7 has agreed to support new rules for a global minimum tax rate on company profits and a new way of sharing the revenues from taxing the world’s largest and most profitable companies. The deal would impose a minimum tax of at least 15% and give

Some 36 million families are eligible for advance payments of enhanced child tax credits for 2021, and the Internal Revenue Service has launched two new online tools to help taxpayers navigate this tax law change. There’s a Child Tax Credit Eligibility Assistant tool, and a child Tax Credit Update Portal. These two tools follow the

The American Rescue Plan expanded the Child Tax Credit from up to $2000 to up to $3600 per child for qualifying children. The entire amount of the credit is now fully refundable. That is, even low-income taxpayers who owe no federal income tax are eligible for the full amount of the credit. The portal for

Taxpayers filing late international information returns continue to encounter difficulties with the IRS’s recent practice of apparently disregarding reasonable cause statements initially and automatically assessing penalties. In particular, late filers of Form 3520, “Annual Return to Report Transactions With Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts,” have found it challenging to persuade the IRS to even look

Most income is ordinary, including pay for services, interest, business profits, dividends, money for winning the lottery, and most other payments. But for generations, there’s been a big tax break for long-term capital gains, those held over a year. Assuming you get past one year, if you sell your house, car, crypto stockpile, Amazon AMZN