Tax strategies

For those who had hoped that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, aka the Supercommittee, would find a way to reduce the deficit, the announcement that they had failed to reach an agreement came as a disappointment.

December represents one last chance to consider certain year-end tax strategies before the door closes on the amount of income, deductions and credits set for the year. Many traditional eleventh-hour techniques are applicable to this year-end 2011, with certain twists that recognize changes on the horizon for 2013. This column examines a handful of considerations especially useful to the individual taxpayer in these final weeks of 2011.

Senate Republicans are offering their own legislation to extend the payroll tax cut while avoiding an extra surtax on millionaires.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday that he plans to introduce legislation this week that would extend the payroll tax cut that is due to expire at the end of the year.

The congressional supercommittee called it quits this week only a couple of days before its November 23 deadline, unable to reach a consensus on either taxes or spending cuts.

President Barack Obama told an audience in New Hampshire on Tuesday that their taxes would go up an average of $1,000 to $1,500 unless the payroll tax cut were extended and expanded as part of his jobs bill.

President Obama signed into law Monday a bill that provides tax credits for hiring veterans and repeals a 3 percent tax withholding requirement on government contractors.

A senior member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee has introduced legislation to roll back the estate tax rates to pre-Bush tax cut levels.

The House Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee held a hearing to consider a move to a territorial corporate tax system that would tax only the income earned inside the U.S.

A group of millionaires visited the halls of Congress in an effort to convince lawmakers to raise tax rates on incomes of $1 million a year or more.

The House overwhelmingly passed legislation repealing the 3 percent withholding mandate on government contractors, along with a tax credit for hiring veterans.

The November 23 deadline for Congress’s deficit reduction “supercommittee” is only about a week away and effectively a few days less.

The deficit reduction “supercommittee” in Congress appears increasingly unlikely to make any decisions on taxes before its impending deadline.

IMGCAP(1)]I propose a six-point plan to improve the U.S. economy:

CCH provided advice on year-end tax strategies that, if implemented before a taxpayer’s liability is finalized, could make a significant difference in what they owe as tax year 2011 draws to a close.

Commissioner Doug Shulman has presided over the continued reorganization and modernization of the Internal Revenue Service since March 2008.

The Senate failed to advance an infrastructure jobs bill Thursday that would have been paid for through higher taxes on millionaires.

A group of Democrats on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee has introduced a bill to extend federal unemployment insurance through 2012 and provide tax relief to employers in states with outstanding UI loans.

The 280 most profitable U.S. corporations are sheltering half their profits from federal income taxes, and 30 of them paid less than zero in the last three years, according to a new study.

Greatland, a provider of W-2 and 1099 tax information reporting software, has issued a guide to help tax preparers navigate the tax changes enacted into law this past year.