The Internal Revenue Service needed to put the brakes on its tax refunds this tax season when newly installed filters to prevent tax fraud and identity theft held up processing for a week or more. The IRS sent out a notice to tax professionals last Thursday apologizing for the delay. The IRS noted that the…
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Category Archives: Individual Tax
Obama’s Minimum Tax on Millionaires May Conflict with AMT
President Obama stuck to his main priorities in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, with just a few surprises in the way of tax reform. “I don’t think those priorities are particularly new,” said Rick Bailine, principal in charge of McGladrey’s Washington National Tax Office, in an interview Wednesday. “The three priorities…
Obama Says High-Earners Should Pay at Least 30% of Income as Tax
President Barack Obama called on Congress to require the highest U.S. earners to pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes, building on his election-year push for what he terms economic fairness. The president’s proposal in his State of the Union address tonight would create a minimum tax on income exceeding $1 million. That floor…
Prepaid college plans: shrinking options, rising risks
Jim and Celeste Durkin thought when they began investing six years ago in Illinois state’s prepaid college savings plan that they were locking in a bargain price if their daughter Caroline, who is now 10, eventually attended the University of Illinois. That might not be the case. The plan took some risky bets on private…
IRS Extends Tax-Filing Deadline to April 17
The Internal Revenue Service opened the 2012 tax season on Wednesday by extending the tax-filing deadline until April 17. Taxpayers will have until Tuesday, April 17 to file their 2011 tax returns and pay any tax due because April 15 falls on a Sunday, and Emancipation Day, a holiday observed in the District of Columbia,…
Home office deduction
With unemployment still near the highest rate in decades, it is not surprising to find many people working out of their homes. Now may be a good time to review the criteria for claiming a deduction for the business use of part of a person’s residence…
Biggest Tax Stories of 2011
There was not a ton of tax news this year, due to a welcome lack of legislation. So for one year in a row, the Internal Revenue Code was not a constantly moving target. Thank you Congress. Still, there were two significant developments and one significant non-development. Here, in my opinion, are the three biggest…
Those Over 50 Targeted in Investment Scams; Problem is ‘Rampant’
Securities regulators and prosecutors are battling what they say is a nationwide surge in investment fraud against baby boomers.
In many cases, the victims pursued risky bets to overcome losses suffered during the financial crisis—a trend that regula…
IRS Offers Some Relief for Expats and Dual Citizens
The Internal Revenue Service has provided information to clarify the tax responsibilities of U.S. citizens and dual citizens living abroad in response to concerns from Canadians and expatriates from other countries about penalties that might be levied on their unpaid taxes and undeclared bank accounts. The IRS posted the information on its Web site Friday after meetings…
IRS Holds First Hearing on Real-Time Tax System
The IRS held a public hearing on Thursday to gather feedback on how to implement a system in which the IRS would match information on tax returns with data from third-party information returns during the processing of the return. Under the proposed “real-time tax system,” if the IRS found discrepancies between the tax return and…
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