Tax News

As a result of the government’s 16-day shutdown in October, the IRS has announced a delay in the start of the 2014 tax filing season. How much of a delay has yet to be determined. The original start...

The government shutdown ended on October 17 and the IRS instructed its employees to report for work on that date. The IRS says that operations will return to normal now. However, those who had extensi...

The government shutdown that began on October 1 impacts IRS activities. Here is what the shutdown means for you: Taxpayers must do: Still file returns on time and pay taxes due. This means anyone w...

IRS interest rates are unchanged for the fourth quarter of 2013 (October 1, 2013, through December 31, 2013). These are the rates changed on underpayments and overpayments: 3% for overpayments (2%...

Starting in 2013, high-income taxpayers may owe an additional Medicare tax of 3.8% with respect to their net investment income (investment income in excess of investment-related expenses). The tax is ...

A taxpayer who is owed a tax refund must file for it in a timely manner. The amount of the refund cannot exceed the portion of the tax paid within 3 years of the filing of the claim. However, a person...

A working spouse can contribute to an IRA on behalf of a nonworking spouse to grow the retirement savings of the couple. The contributions cannot exceed the earned income of the working spouse. In hon...

Lack of substantiation can undermine a taxpayer’s ability to use write-offs to which he or she is otherwise entitled. Take the case of Sean Richards, who claimed an education credit of $1,500. The a...

Earnings from a job or self-employment are taken into account for Social Security tax purposes only up to a “wage base” amount. For 2013, that amount is $113,700. The Social Security Administratio...

The costs you pay to get to and from work every day usually aren’t tax deductible. Commuting costs are treated as a nondeductible personal expense. This rule doesn’t change because the commute is ...

The Tax Reform Act of 1976 requires the IRS to report annually on data for individual income tax returns reporting incomes of $200,000 or more. According to the latest report, there were more than 4.2...

The interest rates that the will IRS charge on underpayments and pay on overpayments remains unchanged for the third quarter of 2013 (July 1 through September 30). The rates are: 3% for overpaymen...

The IRS reported that e-filing of individual income tax returns was up this year. More than 43 million taxpayers self-prepared and e-filed their returns using their computers, which is an increase of ...

Treasury Secretary Lew has named a new acting IRS commissioner to replace Steven Miller, the acting commissioner who resigned amidst ongoing IRS improprieties now under investigation. Daniel Werfel, w...

As a result of the federal government’s sequester (budgetary constraints), the IRS will be closed on May 24, June 14, July 5, July 22, and August 30. This means that all of its toll-free hotlines an...

Employer payments for your health coverage are fully tax free. This rule does not change in 2014 when the health care mandates go into effect. But are cash payments that an employer pays to an employe...

Last month it came to light that the IRS believed it could obtain a taxpayer’s email from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) just by asking for it. The IRS wanted to read the content of some taxpaye...

It’s not easy to turn a foreign trip into a tax deduction. Just ask one taxpayer who tried to justify his travel costs as “research” for his writing activities. He was born in France but became ...

Health savings accounts (HSAs) are a viable way to obtain affordable health coverage. In order to make contributions to these accounts, you must be covered by a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). The...

Despite a massive tax bill enacted at the start of this year, there are a number of new tax proposals in the works. Whether any of them will ultimately come to pass remains to be seen. However, if you...