Tax News

The Social Security Administration announced changes for 2013. While Social Security beneficiaries will receive only 1.7% more in benefits in 2013, the wage base for purposes of the Social Security po...

Bradley Birkenfeld is now a very wealthy man, having just received $104 million from the IRS as a whistleblower award. He provided key information about tax fraud by the Swiss bank UBS AG. The IRS exp...

It comes as no surprise following the devastating rains and flooding that resulted in the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Isaac that the IRS has granted tax relief. The relief is in the form of extensions f...

When you self-prepare a tax return using software or a web-based program such as TurboTax, you continue to be responsible for the output on the return. You cannot claim that mistakes are the results o...

Social Security benefits can be paid to disabled workers. Such benefits are taxable in the same manner as Social Security benefits paid to retirees. In some cases, the benefits received are reduced by...

It’s not great to learn that your hard-earned tax dollars are being sent by the government to scamsters. The Inspector General for Tax Administration reports that the IRS has paid out billions of do...

Olympic medal winners may be able to cash in on their victories for commercial gains. Certainly, Michael Phelps, the 19-time medal winner in swimming, stands to earn millions as the world record holde...

If you are self-employed, or a more-than-2% S corporation shareholder, and obtain your health insurance through Medicare, you can treat your monthly premiums as a deduction from gross income. You don�...

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 is constitutional. The basis for its decision: that the penalty for not carrying health coverage starting...

If you receive stock from your employer in connection with the performance of services and such stock is not vested or subject to risk of forfeiture, you can make a special election. This election, ca...

If you lend money and fail to charge interest at a rate at least equal to the applicable federal rate (AFR) for the term of the loan, you may be subject to below-market loan rules. These rules require...

When you move more than a set distance because of a new job or business, you are entitled to deduct certain moving expenses. These costs are deductible regardless of whether you itemize your other per...

The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was enacted in 1996, defines marriage for federal law purposes as between a man and a woman. Recently, a federal appellate court said that DOMA is unc...

An offer in compromise (OIC) is an arrangement with the IRS to pay less than the full tax amount owed for those suffering certain financial hardships. The IRS announced an expansion of the program to ...

Even a 15% capital gains tax is too much for some people.  At least that’s the view in Congress where a new law, called the Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore...

More than 11 million people have health coverage through a combination of a high-deductible health plan and a health savings account (HSA). The number of people with HSAs continues to grow annually. T...

The U.S. Supreme Court has laid to rest an ongoing controversy over whether a taxpayer’s understatement of basis, which causes less gain to be reported, amounts to an omission of gross income. The r...

Distributions from qualified retirement plans and IRAs before age 591/2 are not only taxable but also subject to a 10% early distribution penalty. However, there are a number of exceptions that a taxp...

Certainty used to be defined as death and taxes. Now that definition takes on a whole new meaning. According to a study, car accidents increase on the tax filing deadline by about 6%. This translates ...

The Tax Foundation reports that Tax Freedom Day comes 4 days later than last year. Tax Freedom Day, April 17 this year, is the date on which you have earned enough money to pay your taxes. In other wo...