Tax strategies

Mr. and Mrs. Friedberg were just another couple of average married taxpayers like any other married taxpayers happily minding their own business until the IRS decided to wage a war of terror on them.

Thomson Reuters has released a new report on the Internal Revenue Service’s guidance on same-sex marriage in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down section three of the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional.

Unlike year-end 2012, planning for year-end 2013 is not burdened by the uncertainties over the extension of the Bush tax cuts or the political theater that took place surrounding last New Year's Day. Nevertheless, enough change and uncertainty remains that impacts year-end 2013 tax strategies to warrant special attention by taxpayers and their tax advisors.

Much attention has been focused on the postponement of the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate—the requirement that businesses with 50 or more employees provide them with health insurance or face significant fines, which the Obama Administration delayed for one year.

An annual study of SEC disclosures showed that the Fortune 500 collectively believe that they have underpaid their corporate income tax by $191.7 billion, an increase of 2.2 percent from the group’s collective tax reserves last year.

Republican leaders of the House Judiciary Committee released a set of principles Wednesday for taxing Internet sales, offering the first tentative move toward compromising on legislation passed by the Senate earlier this year that has not yet advanced in the House.

Kat Morgan will check a “married” box on her federal tax return next year for the first time since her 2009 wedding, now that the Internal Revenue Service will recognize same-sex marriages no matter where couples live.

Taxpayers will receive some tax relief next year, thanks to the Internal Revenue Service’s inflation-adjusted indexing provided under the Tax Code, according to estimates from CCH.

Thomson Reuters has released the FATCA Essentials library as part of its Checkpoint online research service, providing information on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

As tax reform efforts resume in Washington this month, a new survey finds that over 70 percent of business tax professionals believe a detailed tax reform plan will begin to be worked on by the House Ways and Means Committee this year, and nearly 50 percent of the respondents think a tax reform plan will be put forward in the Senate.

Visitors to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, leave appreciative notes on a glass wall near the entrance.

The Congressional Budget Office is seeing a $400 billion reduction in the federal government’s budget deficit for the current fiscal year, thanks to increased tax revenues due largely to the expiration of the payroll tax cut.

Awareness of the implications of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, also known as FATCA, is growing.

The Group of 20 world leaders issued a declaration last week calling for a crackdown on cross-border tax evasion.

The leaders of Congress’s two tax-writing committees have continued their tax reform road show tour with a stop in Memphis, Tenn.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have issued proposed regulations to implement the information reporting requirements for insurers and certain employers under the Affordable Care Act.

Check out the digital edition of the September 2013 issue of Accounting Today.

The Supreme Court’s recent DOMA decision raised a number of questions regarding its tax implications.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations restricting multinational corporations from bringing net built-in losses from abroad into the U.S.

The American Legion and other veterans’ organizations are expressing concern over reports that the Internal Revenue Service is requiring them to maintain military service records for their members or face stiff penalties.