Tax News

Interest rates may inch up next year, but for the last quarter of 2017 (October 1 through December 31), IRS interest rates on individual tax refunds and tax underpayments are holding steady at 4%(Rev....

Employers that want to use a per diem rate to reimburse their employees’ lodging, meals, and incidental expenses on business trips within the continental U.S. (CONUS) can use either the IRS’ high-...

Generally, if you take a distribution from an IRA, you can avoid tax (including the 10% early distribution penalty if under age 59½) by rolling it over to another IRA or qualified retirement plan wit...

If you have federal tax filing or income reporting obligations but are not eligible for a Social Security number (SSN) you must obtain an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). In addition, anyo...

MyRAs, which are a type of “mini-Roth IRA,” began in a pilot program in 2014 and went nationwide in 2015. However, due to the lack of interest and high cost to U.S. taxpayers in MyRAs, at the of J...

Homeowners who participate in the Household Finance Agency’s program for distressed homeowners may use a safe harbor for figuring their annual itemized deduction related to their homes. More specifi...

Individuals who buy health insurance through the federal or a state marketplace and have income below a set level for their family size can use the premium tax credit to reduce their monthly premiums....

Taxpayers who are under age 59½ and withdraw money in their retirement accounts to pay federal and state income taxes are liable for the 10% early distribution penalty. There is no penalty exception ...

In some states, insurance companies sell the same policies on and off of the government marketplace. The Tax Court recently confirmed that a taxpayer can claim the premium tax credit only with respect...

An insurance consultant’s clients are currently primarily accountants. Nonetheless, he prepared his own return for tax years before he had these clients. He admitted to the Tax Court that he made a ...

The IRS has released the 2018 contribution limits for health savings accounts (HSAs), as well as the requirements for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), since you can only contribute to an HSA if y...

You can be taxed on “imputed interest” if you make an interest-free loan to a relative, or if you charge interest at less than the applicable federal rate (AFR) set by the IRS.  If you do not cha...

The Fed is on course to raise short-term interest rates several times this year, but for the third quarter of 2017 (July 1 through September 30, 2017), the IRS interest rate for individual tax overpay...

The IRS provides a wealth of preliminary tax data for tax year 2015 in the Spring 2017 Statistics of Income Bulletin (SOIB). The data is based on a sample of 257,083 individual income tax returns for ...

Under estate tax rules, if a spouse dies and does not use up his/her entire exemption amount ($5.49 million if death is in 2017), the surviving spouse’s estate can use the balance. This is called th...

A person who suffers job-related discrimination may be awarded back pay. Recently, a district court said that the award could be increased to account for the person’s tax bill on the recovery (Greg ...

The IRS has long had a fast track settlement program for large and mid-sized businesses to resolve outstanding legal and factual issues in contention through mediation. The IRS had started a similar p...

General partners are subject to self-employment tax on their distributive share of partnership interest (Code Sec. 1402(b)). In contrast, limited partners are not subject to self-employment tax on the...

If you use a car, light truck or van for business, you can claim depreciation in addition to your vehicle operating costs (gasoline, oil, repairs, insurance, parking and tolls allocated to business us...

For many individuals, IRAs are significant assets that need to be protected. Last year it was reported that the average balance per IRA owner was $127,600, and many have even more squirreled away. Unf...