Tax deductions

The traditional family is no longer so traditional. Increasingly children are living in blended families, bringing complex tax issues to their parents’ accountants.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have introduced bipartisan legislation that would prevent businesses from deducting the money they pay to government agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle allegations of company wrongdoing.

Taxpayers often have radically different opinions of the Internal Revenue Service than tax professionals — which offers practitioners some opportunities.

Republicans are looking at limiting a tax exclusion used by employers that’s worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year, as a way to pay for changes to the health care system.

There are a number of reasons taxpayers hire professionals to file their taxes – and one of the best is to prevent them from trying to claim truly ridiculous things in their filings.

Some tax deductions and credits may be traded for lower overall rates in the reform plans of the Trump administration and the Republic congressional leadership, so taxpayers may want to make the most of them now.

Some deductions and credits may be traded for lower overall rates in the Trump administration’s reform plans, so tax preparers may want to make sure their clients make the most of them now.

On Dec. 31, 2016, Code Section 457A put to an end to the strategy of deferring compensation in tax-advantaged jurisdictions offshore.

Tax columnists George Jones and Mark Luscombe of Wolters Kluwer put together a list of important changes from this year that will carry over into the next.

For 2017, carryover from 2016 not only includes the usual reporting and compliance issues related to the tax year just ending, but also those tax changes and issues begun in 2016 that are by no means finished at year's end.

As the end of the year approaches, many of us are focused on taking advantage of tax break opportunities before another year begins.

The IRS's annually updated standard mileage rates for deducting costs of operating an automobile come with some important rules.