Tax strategies

The Joint Committee on Taxation, which operates under the auspices of the tax-writing committees of the Senate and the House, has been given the task of conducting specific research that will help advance the ability of Congress to enact comprehensive tax reform.

With the tax benefits of the 2009 stimulus ebbing, the tax burden is pushing slowly higher and is now at its highest level in two years, according to Deloitte. As the economy improves, more households are pushed into higher tax brackets, raising the government's take, the firm found.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the House and the Senate have re-introduced a bill that would impose a five-year moratorium on any new taxes or fees on wireless service.

A study of filing data for the small business health insurance tax credit finds that the tax credit amounts are often miscalculated.

The Senate Budget Committee held hearings on the distribution and efficiency of spending in the Tax Code.

Democratic lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee have introduced a new bill intended to finance infrastructure investments to create jobs.

Owning your own home opens the door to many tax-saving opportunities, and there are a dozen tax breaks that homeowners should know about, according to CCH.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said Wednesday the Senate should act on the 1099 repeal bill approved by the House and send the bill to President Obama’s desk for his signature this week.

Recent policy changes in areas such as cost basis reporting, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, and the Regulated Investment Company Modernization Act of 2010 are likely to create significant compliance, reporting and monitoring risks and consume resources as companies continue to move toward economic recovery, according to KPMG.

A bipartisan pair of senators introduced a bill Wednesday that would repeal the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit, saying it would save taxpayers $6 billion.

The Senate passed a patent reform bill on Tuesday that contains provisions banning patents on tax strategies.

The Senate Finance Committee held hearings Tuesday to consider the Tax Code’s effect on job creation and economic growth.

President Obama credited the tax cut extension deal he forged with Congress for helping to turn around the unemployment problem.

The accounting profession’s drive for a more predictable and user friendly Federal Tax Code seems to be gaining traction with at least one segment of Congress: the freshly-elected corps of Tea Party activists and their conservative allies in the House and Senate.

Tax reform for business isn’t just about lowering the corporate tax rate. That’s what Patricia Thompson, chair of the AICPA’s Tax Executive Committee, told the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures yesterday.

The House moved one step closer to repealing the expanded 1099 information reporting requirements in the Affordable Care Act and Small Business Jobs Act on Wednesday by approving a controversial offset to the cost of the repeal.

The Senate Finance Committee convened a hearing Tuesday aimed at making the Tax Code fairer and simpler, while making U.S. businesses more competitive.

A group calling itself US Uncut organized a series of protests over the weekend at Bank of America branches across the country to protest large corporations with unpaid income taxes.

Responding to press reports that the Obama administration is considering hitting small business with more tax hikes, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, called on the White House to take these tax increases off the table that threaten to “destroy the economic recovery our nation deserves.”

Whether or not the Obama administration budget proposal to add some clarity to worker classification sees the light of day, the employee vs. independent contractor issue will surely be undergoing increased scrutiny.