Taxes

Refuge of a scoundrel; elder care and hockey tickets; on the flyer; and other highlights of recent tax cases. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Preparer Faheem Olugbodi, a.k.a. Faheem Abdul Nichols and James Moore, 48, was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to preparing fraudulent returns from 2011 through 2013. Olugbodi admitted collecting

Taxing wealthy individuals and corporations while improving tax enforcement is one of the main themes in the Biden administration’s tax agenda, but raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent (as in the American Jobs Plan) complicates enforcement efforts by encouraging businesses to form as pass-through firms that tend to have lower rates of tax

Note: A landmark comparison of corporate tax costs in all 50 states, Location Matters calculates and analyzes the tax burdens of eight model firms: a corporate headquarters, a research and development facility, a technology center, a data center, a shared services center, a distribution center, a capital-intensive manufacturer, and a labor-intensive manufacturer. Each firm is

Phishing and the season’s latest scams; FBAR whistleblowing returns; best sales-tax questions; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers. The fun’s back in ‘refund’ Don’t Mess with Taxes (http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/): The good word on processing returns — and the even better news about refunds — from the Office of Management and Budget, leaked first by

If policymakers wanted companies to pay a minimum level of tax regardless of where they earn profits around the world, what would be the best way to achieve that? One idea that has been proposed by the Biden administration and other governments has been a global minimum tax calculated for each country where a business

Don’t expect data centers to blossom in the plains of Kansas: a new data center’s effective tax rate in the state is 21 times what would be paid by a new manufacturer with similar profits. In the median state, that data center would face only one-quarter the tax burden it does in Kansas. Meanwhile, newly-established

Condo bunco; life goes on; heavy metals; and other highlights of recent tax cases. Honolulu: Businessman Wagdy Guirguis and CPA Michael Higa have been convicted of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. Guirguis was also convicted of three counts of filing false corporate income tax returns, one count of failure to file a corporate income

With the Biden administration proposing a variety of new taxes, it is worth revisiting the literature on how taxes impact economic growth. In 2012, we published a review of the evidence, noting that most studies find negative impacts. However, many papers have been written since, some using more sophisticated empirical methods to identify a causal

Table of Contents Key Findings Digital advertising, social media, and data tax proposals have been introduced in nine states following enactment of Maryland’s digital advertising tax, which has since been postponed a year due to administrative and legal challenges. Motivations for these taxes vary, from misperceptions that there is currently a tax loophole to a

Pluses of filing early; shutdown fallout; CAF problems; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers. Sense of security? Liberty Tax (http://www.libertytax.com/tax-lounge): What to tell them about the pluses of filing early, from possibly avoiding fraud or ID theft to knowing exactly what you do or don’t owe. The Income Tax School (http://www.theincometaxschool.com/blog/): And remember,

Table of Contents Key Findings Average wage earners in the OECD have their take-home pay lowered by two major taxes: individual income and payroll (both employee and employer side). Value-added (VAT) and sales taxes also place a tax burden on take-home pay used for consumption. Before accounting for VAT and sales tax, the average tax

Property taxes are an important source of revenue for local and state governments. In fiscal year (FY) 2018 (the most recent year of data available), property taxes generated 31.1 percent of total U.S. state and local tax collections and 71.7 percent of local tax collections. Local governments rely heavily on property taxes to fund schools, roads, police departments, and

“Should I stay or should I go?” The Clash sang years ago. Residents of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, California and other high-tax states are now singing a similar song. The thought of moving to a lower-tax state is more prevalent than ever in light of the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

While much of the tax policy now under debate aims to increase the tax burden on businesses, several policies in the newly released Republican Study Committee (RSC) budget for Fiscal Year 2022 focus on reducing the tax code’s barriers to investment and saving. The RSC budget contains many possible tax reforms, but two proposals in

Today, the U.S. Treasury issued an interim final rule on the $350 billion in State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds provided under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The proposed rule resolves several important questions but continues to involve the federal government in state finances at an extraordinary level. Most astonishingly, the rule may functionally

The Internal Revenue Service has released a draft version of the Form 1040 for tax year 2020 with several significant changes probably in store for next tax season. They include moving the question about virtual currency from the attached Schedule 1 to near the top of the main form, right under the name and address,

The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) recently released data on taxes paid at various levels of income, indicating the federal tax system is progressive, consistent with similar analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The JCT found that the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers faced an

This week’s map looks at state and local sales tax collections per capita. Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have state-levied sales taxes. Five states—Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon—do not collect sales taxes at the state level, although Alaska allows localities to impose local sales taxes. In fiscal year (FY) 2018, the highest state

Investing can be an excellent way to build your wealth without having to do much work. Perhaps that’s why so many Americans do it. According to the Pew Research Center, 52% of American families are in some way invested in the stock market – mostly through 401(k)s and retirement accounts – and 14% directly invested

Every year, you learn something new when you file your taxes. Hopefully, every time you figure out how to do it more efficiently. Maybe you discover a new way to file that takes less time. Perhaps you maximize your tax refund or determine ways in which you will owe less the next time around. Whether