Tax strategies

A tax credit that is supposed to help poverty-stricken communities is instead being used to finance at least two luxury hotels, an antique car museum, a small theater in an upscale neighborhood, and other dubious projects, while lining the pockets of wealthy banks and investors.

We’ve been operating without a budget for the past year, and despite the budget proposal this week, it appears likely that we will continue to operate the government under a series of continuing resolutions.

Nearly three quarters of nonprofit organizations are concerned that tax exemptions will be revoked in the next year or two, according to a new survey.

Before 2007, any part of a mortgage forgiven after a foreclosure, such as when the house was sold and the bank forgave a mortgage exceeding the home’s sale price, was considered taxable income, but that has changed now.

The unveiling of the Obama administration’s budget this week appeared to be only the opening act for what promises to be a long-running series of episodes involving spending, taxes, and cuts to favored and not-so-favored programs.

The House Committee on Small Business held hearings on repealing the unpopular expansion of 1099 information reporting in the health care reform bill.

The White House released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 on Monday, with plans for eliminating capital gains taxes on small business investment, while also getting rid of tax breaks for the wealthy and for fossil fuels.

Congressmen Brad Sherman, D-Calif., and Michael Conaway, R-Texas, have formed a Bipartisan Congressional CPA Caucus that they plan to co-chair.

Tax strategy patents have been around for more than a decade, ever since a federal appeals court in 1998 validated business method patents, including tax strategies.

The city of San Francisco is reportedly considering offering Twitter massive tax breaks to keep the growing social media company from moving outside the city to nearby Brisbane.

Home values in the U.S. posted their largest quarterly decline since the first quarter of 2009, falling 2.6 percent as the temporary stimulus of the Home Buyer Tax Credits wore off, according to a new report.

The Obama administration is expected to propose a way for states to raise more money in payroll taxes to pay for the cost of unemployment insurance.

A group of 10 Senate Democrats has written to Speaker of the House John Boehner and other House leaders asking them to reduce the budget deficit by eliminating unneeded subsidies and tax breaks for oil companies.

There are many important new tax breaks for U.S. individuals on the 2010 Form 1040, and several more have been eliminated, noted one tax expert.

U.S. taxation of international operations and financial statement disclosure issues were the top two concerns of leading corporate tax executives, according to a new survey.

President Obama urged business leaders to begin creating jobs and taking advantage of the tax breaks offered by his administration during a speech Monday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

President Obama urged businesses to make their buildings more energy efficient and called on Congress to provide tax incentives to help.

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted Thursday to approve bipartisan patent reform legislation, including provisions banning tax strategy patents.

A coalition of 15 national organizations urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to keep a provision in S. 23, The Patent Reform Act of 2011, which would stop tax strategy patents. The bill goes to mark-up on Feb. 3.

President Obama has launched a new initiative to fund small business entrepreneurs known as Startup America, which sounds like something that might better belong on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley than on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.