Taxes

Today’s column addresses questions about whether it’s always best to wait until full retirement age to take survivor’s benefits before switching to retirement benefits at 70, how the earnings test is applied this year and benefit amounts for disabled adult children. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and

Mayors in blue states are lining up with Democrats in Congress to pressure the White House into restoring a tax break that was significantly reduced by former President Trump’s tax reform. On Wednesday, Rep. Thomas Suozzi (N.Y.) joined officials from Albany; Columbia, S.C.; Philadelphia and San Diego to call for a repeal of the rule

New York Attorney General Letitia James has weighed in on the low-income housing tax credit Year 15 struggle. In cooperation with James E. Johnson New York City’s Corporation Counsel, she has filed an amicus brief supporting RiseBoro Community Partnership (RiseBoro) in its litigation with AIG affiliate, Sun America Housing Fund 682, over ownership and control of 35

The federal minimum wage increase didn’t survive the “Byrd bath” process in the Senate in the first budget bill this year because it wasn’t sufficiently related to the budget, but what if it was repackaged as a tax instead? That’s the question that economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman of the University of California, Berkeley,

In an ordinary year, filing taxes can be annoying, confusing, stressful, and costly. Throw in a COVID-19 pandemic, and all the financial chaos that has followed, and it can be completely overwhelming. The tax year 2020 seems to be throwing many tax preparers for a loop. Many taxpayers are in desperate need of their stimulus

An IRS Memorandum released on April 9, 2021 (Number: 202114020) further clarifies when cryptocurrency hard forks should be taxed. The memorandum specifically talks about bitcoin (BTC) & bitcoin cash (BCH) hard fork occurred on August 1, 2017 at 9:16 AM EDT. Pursuant to the hard fork, people who held BTC received an equivalent amount of

Could the corporate blowback against GOP efforts to rewrite voting rules in Georgia and other states drive congressional Republicans to accept some of President Biden’s proposals to raise taxes on US corporations and, gulp, their shareholders and top executives? Well, probably not. But the endless stories about the growing rift between big business and many

Another class action lawsuit is hitting the beleaguered syndicated conservation easement industry. As in the other three, which are covered here, here and here, David Deary is the lead attorney. The case is Hoover et al v Strategic Capital Partners, LLC et al and the complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern

Many lawyers are asked about tax issues, at least in a general way. For example, clients may ask whether legal fees they pay are tax deductible. Unfortunately, many tax issues are complex, even tax deductions for legal fees. Except for tax lawyers, many lawyers try to steer clear of tax questions. Still, many lawyers want

President Biden’s $2 trillion-plus American Jobs Plan has lots of funding for traditional physical infrastructure, but also for workforce development, high-speed broadband, child care facilities, and a $400 billion expansion of care for the elderly and disabled.  Although this expansion has been criticized, Biden is more than justified in expanding the definition of “infrastructure” to match our

By approving a third round of economic impact payments (EIPs) and expanding refundability of the Child Tax Credit, Congress has made refundable tax credits a more important pillar of income support than ever. But using tax credits as a way to provide income security to low-income households creates a significant challenge: How can the IRS

It’s a new legal development for private equity billionaire Robert F. Smith and his onetime mentor Bob Brockman, already accused of the biggest tax evasion in U.S. history. Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of Carlos E. Kepke, a Houston tax attorney who prosecutors say conspired with Smith to hide $225 million in

Which is better, using appreciated securities or an IRA? Here’s a calculator to answer the question. The 2017 tax law, with its huge standard deduction, did serious damage to the tax benefits of philanthropy: Now, for a lot of taxpayers, cash donations don’t cut any ice on a tax return. There are two countermoves. One,

Telecommunications giants Comcast CMCSA and Verizon VZ are the latest to sue Maryland over its first-in-the-nation digital advertising tax as the state moved to delay implementation of the controversial legislation this week. In a complaint filed Thursday, seven divisions of Comcast, along with Verizon Media Inc., asked the court to declare the tax illegal under

             The Biden administration has put forward its infrastructure proposals and is now seeking to garner bipartisan support. One area that has bipartisan support (and very much needs reform) is the tax incentives for charitable giving. Reform of the tax incentives for charitable giving has a two-fold benefit: getting charitable dollars into the hands of working charities that

By Ed Slott, Next Avenue If you are working with an eye towards retirement or even semi-retirement, you are probably (hopefully) saving more than you could in the past in your retirement accounts. You may have paid off the mortgage and paid for college and other heavy expenses of raising children. That all sounds like you

Governments are working together to hit up taxpayers for more money—here and around the world. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is calling for countries to enact a global minimum corporate tax rate. And schemes are afoot to do the same for individuals. Officials of the G-20, the world’s biggest economies, are busy formulating plans for a

Running your own business (or being self-employed) is a major part of the American Dream and a great way to quickly move towards financial freedom. This also leaves the heavy lifting of tax planning and setting up a retirement plan squarely on your shoulders, as if running a business wasn’t complicated enough. Keep reading as

Tax cases involving Native Americans are complex, highly fact-intensive, and if required, a court must weigh the competing interests of the tribe, the federal government, and the state to determine if the tax stands or falls.  There are instances in which a court, in order to reach the correct result, must examine the original treaty document

In a measure aimed at developing the UK’s post-Brexit international trading arrangements, it was announced last month that several Free Ports (sometimes referred to as Free Trade Zones) would open in the UK.  What are Free Ports? Free Ports are commonly used throughout the world, although less so within the EU, to promote international trade