Tax strategies

Health care reform tax issues for 2014

From SEP and SIMPLE IRAs to Solo 401(k)s

Sole proprietors and practitioners mainly generate their revenue during tax season from tax preparation clients, but there are other opportunities for them.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have long supported an estate tax to prevent the U.S. from being dominated by inherited wealth. That doesn’t mean they want to pay it.

You probably know more about Donald Sterling and his mistresses, his infamous recording, and the proposed forced sale of his team, the Los Angeles Clippers, than you want to know. Nevertheless, as tax professionals we should be aware of the tax opportunities and issues for the Sterlings as sellers, if only to make conversation at the next tax-themed gathering we attend.

When an individual receives a Schedule K-1 from a partnership reflecting a loss, there are several things to consider before deciding if the loss can be deducted. In order to determine deductibility, a partner's basis and at risk limitations need to be evaluated.

Tax rules continuously change, but the specific tax matter here is not what’s important. What is important is the process.

The Internal Revenue Service has released the spring 2014 edition of its quarterly Statistics of Income Bulletin, with statistics up through 2011 indicating there are still people who earn over $200,000 a year who pay no federal income taxes, although the number of them has been decreasing.

The economic benefits of the income exclusion for U.S. citizens working abroad are uncertain, according to a new government report.

Real estate investment trusts were originally created to permit tax-efficient public investment in real estate, but REITs have also found wide use as private vehicles.

The Internal Revenue Service has published final regulations to provide guidance on which costs incurred by estates or trusts other than grantor trusts are subject to a 2 percent floor for miscellaneous itemized deductions.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations clarifying the rules regarding the tax treatment of payments by qualified retirement plans for accident or health insurance.

Almost 50 years after Oscar-winning actor Yul Brynner gave up his passport at the U.S. embassy in the Swiss capital, the number of Americans relinquishing their citizenship jumped 47 percent in the first quarter.

Premature withdrawals from retirement accounts have become America’s new piggy bank, cracked open in record amounts during lean times by people like Cindy Cromie, who needed the money to rent a U-Haul and start a new life.

We're dedicating this column to tax alpha because accountants who are financial planners are uniquely positioned to deliver it. But just what, you may ask, is "tax alpha"? If "alpha" is the return generated by an advisor's skill in picking and managing investments, then "tax alpha" protects that return and generates a boost by making sure that taxes don't eat away more of a client's wealth than absolutely necessary.

Helpful hints for exempt organizations and their advisors

For taxpayers who owe taxes with their tax returns, the IRS has provided ten tips about how to pay.

U.S. taxpayers would need to pay an average of $1,259 more a year to make up the federal and state taxes lost to corporations and individuals sheltering money in overseas tax havens, according to a report.

The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing last week to discuss the perennial issue of the tax extenders, the temporary tax provisions that expire year after year and are usually renewed.

As the political fight over raising taxes for high-income Americans fades away, so are predictions for negative economic fallout.