Delayed tax returns and late tax code changes are among the most serious problems facing taxpayers today, according to taxpayer advocate Nina Olson in an annual report to Congress Wednesday.
No one actually expects lawmakers to overhaul the tax code this year, but House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) planted his flag Thursday morning by unveiling a bill that he calls the "mother of all tax reforms."
Take your tax breaks and mind-boggling incentives - give us a low rate.
At first glance, private equity and venture capital are kissing cousins - same partnership structure, same investment pool, same pedigreed MBAs. But ever since the Senate Finance Committee this spr...
Under the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), you're not allowed to take a lot of the income tax breaks you might otherwise enjoy under the regular income tax code. But there is one that's preserved: The reduced 15 percent rate on capital gains and dividends.
Prosecutors in the KPMG tax fraud case suffered another blow as a 2004 document from the IRS showed that KPMG may not have been required to register certain questionable tax shelters with the agency, The New York Times reports.
The IRS has a surprising new enemy in the battle against abusive tax shelters: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In recent years the Patent Office has begun granting patents to people who claim...
The Internal Revenue Service has a surprising new enemy in the battle against abusive tax shelters: The United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is hoping to stamp out the sex trade by taxing pimps and prostitutes, then jailing them when they don't pay.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Permanent repeal of the estate tax this year is looking highly unlikely given that the Senate defeated a motion to consider the legislation last week. But the chances for compromise weren't snuffed out, and estate tax reform legislation may still see the light of day.
Delayed tax returns and late tax code changes are among the most serious problems facing taxpayers today, according to taxpayer advocate Nina Olson in an annual report to Congress Wednesday.
No one actually expects lawmakers to overhaul the tax code this year, but House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) planted his flag Thursday morning by unveiling a bill that he calls the "mother of all tax reforms."
Take your tax breaks and mind-boggling incentives - give us a low rate.
At first glance, private equity and venture capital are kissing cousins - same partnership structure, same investment pool, same pedigreed MBAs. But ever since the Senate Finance Committee this spr...
Under the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), you're not allowed to take a lot of the income tax breaks you might otherwise enjoy under the regular income tax code. But there is one that's preserved: The reduced 15 percent rate on capital gains and dividends.
Prosecutors in the KPMG tax fraud case suffered another blow as a 2004 document from the IRS showed that KPMG may not have been required to register certain questionable tax shelters with the agency, The New York Times reports.
The IRS has a surprising new enemy in the battle against abusive tax shelters: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In recent years the Patent Office has begun granting patents to people who claim...
The Internal Revenue Service has a surprising new enemy in the battle against abusive tax shelters: The United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is hoping to stamp out the sex trade by taxing pimps and prostitutes, then jailing them when they don't pay.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Permanent repeal of the estate tax this year is looking highly unlikely given that the Senate defeated a motion to consider the legislation last week. But the chances for compromise weren't snuffed out, and estate tax reform legislation may still see the light of day.
President Bush on Wednesday afternoon signed into law another landmark piece of tax legislation.
Around this time of year, Sen. Ron Wyden wants you to go skiing with your kids, read a novel, plant a garden--anything but do taxes. The Oregon Democrat has dreamed up a tax code so simple it shrin...
(FORTUNE Small Business) - Imagine for a moment that your local police set out to trap a few wily burglars but wound up clumsily ensnaring you and others -- the town's shopkeepers, factory owners, ...
Charles Rossotti ran the Internal Revenue Service from 1997 through 2002. His recent book, Many Unhappy Returns, chronicles his experiences collecting your money, and this year he sat on a presiden...
Remember "political capital"? A year ago, George W. Bush had a hugely ambitious economic agenda. He'd already won deep tax cuts. Now he promised to fix the Social Security system once and for all a...
Charles Rossotti ran the Internal Revenue Service from 1997 through 2002.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - It's understandable if you have your hackles up about recent proposals to nix the federal deduction for state and local taxes and to downsize the mortgage-interest tax break.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Charged with proposing ways to make the federal tax code simpler, fairer and more growth-oriented, President Bush's bipartisan tax advisory panel put forth a Simplified Income Tax Plan with many changes that could alter individuals' tax bills.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - There's been ample criticism of President Bush's bipartisan tax-reform panel for the recommendation that lawmakers downsize the mortgage tax break for homeowners.
The president's tax-reform advisory panel submitted two final proposals Tuesday morning to the Treasury Department, both of which offer significant changes to the tax breaks people have come to expect -- as well as to the complexity and costs of filing that many have come to detest.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The Presidential Tax Reform Panel agreed on Tuesday to recommend two plans that would reform the U.S. federal tax code, according to published reports.
If you don't care much for talk radio, or you don't live in the South, the name Neal Boortz might not ring a bell. But pay attention: Around 4 million people nationwide catch his radio show. It's N...
The heyday for tax shelters may be coming to an end as the government widens its investigation into tax shelter fraud that costs taxpayers billions of dollars.
In a case described as the largest tax-evasion scheme in U.S. history, eight former executives of major accounting firm KPMG were charged Monday with conspiracy in a scheme to sell fraudulent tax shelters that shorted the IRS at least $2.5 billion, the Justice Department announced Monday.
In a case described as the largest tax evasion scheme in U.S. history, eight former executives of the major accounting firm KPMG were charged Monday with conspiracy in a scheme to sell fraudulent tax shelters that shorted the IRS at least $2.5 billion dollars, the Justice Department announced Monday.
KPMG may avoid criminal charges in a probe of its roles in questionable tax shelters, but the leading accounting firm could be faced with hundreds of millions in fines, according to a published report.
There's no end to the analogies used to describe just how broken the federal tax system is. It's been likened it to an overbuilt house that's crumbling, a floor littered with too much garbage, and a blackboard with no space left to write.
Two months isn't a long time, but President Bush's decision to delay tax reform until the fall, at the earliest, may be a sign that his second-term economic agenda is in trouble.
In a move intended to keep the focus on Social Security and other pressing legislative issues, President Bush has extended until the end of September a deadline for a panel to submit recommendations for reforming the federal income tax code.
For the first time in a decade, the House committee that plays a key role in crafting the nation's tax laws delved into the politically charged question of radical income tax reform.
Even as Congress remained riven over judicial nominations, legislators on Monday took up another impassioned issue and one that seems like a political no-brainer: tax reform for the middle class.
Finished with taxes and feeling the urge to vent?
PRESIDENT BUSH HAS PROPOSED reforming both the Social Security system and the tax code over the next two years. His strategy is to deal with each issue separately--Social Security first, followed b...
A bipartisan presidential panel gets to work Wednesday on the colossal task of finding ways to make April 15 a kinder, gentler day for federal income taxpayers.
President Bush in his budget for fiscal 2006 renewed his pledge to make permanent the massive tax cuts of his first term -- but a large and growing number of Americans aren't cheering.
A senior government official charged with representing taxpayer interests came out in favor Tuesday of a tax overhaul -- one of the President Bush's top legislative goals heading into his second term.
President Bush has two big ideas about your tax bill.
Vice President Dick Cheney kicked off a White House conference on the economy Wednesday by saying it plans to take a close look at topics such as lawsuit abuse, affordable health care, the future of Social Security and the federal tax code.
PRESIDENT BUSH HAS PUSHED THROUGH SOME DELIGHTFUL changes in the tax code over the past four years: lower income tax rates, rebates, and increased business depreciation allowances, to name a few. I...
Outlining his agenda for the next four years, President Bush said reforming the tax system is one of the main goals of his second term. But by offering few details, Bush has raised speculation that his administration might be considering radical changes, such as replacing the current progressive system with a flat tax on income or a national sales tax.
"... if I am President, we're going to scour that tax code and make it simple and fair once and for all." -- John Kerry, September 2003
It's too early to gas up Air Force One for Sen. John Kerry or pick out drapes for the Naval Observatory for Sen. John Edwards, but it's not too early to think about how the Democratic party's likely nominees for president and vice president would manage the world's largest economy.
Pledging to create 10 million new jobs in four years, presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry on Friday will begin to roll out his economic plan for the country in a series of three speeches, his campaign said.
This year it may pay to procrastinate on your tax returns.
There will probably come a time in the next few weeks when you'll look at your paycheck, notice that the take-home dollar amount is a little bit higher and the "federal withholding" amount is a lit...
The economy is sputtering. A Republican President vows to cut taxes to get it moving again. Critics say the proposed cuts will leave the rich richer, federal deficits bigger, and the economy worse ...
On a snowy Friday in February, dozens of men and women shuffled through Arthur Andersen's spacious Midtown Manhattan office. The place hadn't seen this much activity in months. But it wasn't a sign...
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill has a knack for colorful, sometimes hyperbolic phrasemaking. But when he called the tax code an "abomination" recently, he wasn't mouthing off. The Treasury Departme...
Perhaps the most overlooked winners under last year's tax reform are small business owners. Consider 45-year-old attorney Michael Marsalese, a sole practitioner in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. For the p...
It's no small thing to face down a 1040 and a blizzard of documents, from canceled checks and restaurant receipts to 1099 dividend slips. And just when you think you've nailed down a strategy, the ...
Every December you hear the same message: It's time to get your financial house in order, to start thinking about taxes, to start selling investments (or conversely to not even think about selling ...
We understand if the only plans you want to make now revolve around reunions with friends and family at the holidays. But there's another date that you should be preparing for: April 15, 2002. If y...
By now you've likely been flooded with news about the $1.35 trillion tax cut signed into law on June 7, the deepest in two decades. The 2001 tax reform slashes rates, does away with the estate tax ...
Over the years Americans have taken a variety of tacks--dipping, dodging, hedging, and kvetching--when it comes to taxes. But there's one thing we all have in common: Everyone hates them. Hey, isn'...
From outside the Beltway, the nation's capital looks like a maze run by hobbits who speak a strange language and indulge in strange rituals. What's scary is how much power they have to help or hind...
Not all tax mistakes are created equal. There are, for example, the kind that drive the IRS crazy. The revenuers say that nearly eight million 1998 tax returns contained at least one error, some of...
As year-end rituals go, tax planning doesn't rank with uncorking the New Year's Eve champagne. But since most of the new breaks from the 1997 tax law just became available this year, you may have s...
House Republican leaders have backed off their grandiose plan for a $700 billion tax cut. But lawmakers in both parties are hitting the campaign trail with vows to remedy the so-called marriage pen...
Next to beating earnings estimates, nothing arouses feelings of self-worth in a chief financial officer more than cutting costs. All the better if those costs are taxes. Better still if the way it'...
First the bad news: The hours are ticking away, and there's little you can do to lower your April 15 bill. Now the good news: The 1997 Tax Act is chock full of tax breaks for the new year--and it's...
January's "Why Middle-Class Kids Are Losing Out" prompted several readers to question our story's emphasis on what we as a nation are, or aren't, investing in day care and early childhood education...
If you run your own business--even from home--the new tax law can leave a lot of extra cash in your pocket over the years ahead. Although navigating the maze of these rather complicated regulations...
As you'll see in our special report that starts on page 64, the new tax law serves up a smorgasbord of expanded deductions, credits and lower capital-gains rates that can slice your tax bill. But s...
If you thought the tax code was complicated and silly before, consider the recently enacted Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997: Its new Hope Credit for education can't be used by convicted drug felons, bu...
If you've been thinking about selling your home, you'll have good incentives to do so in '98: For starters, growth in home prices will continue to slow next year--the median home price will rise ju...
H&R BLOCK (HRB) NYSE, $39; 2% YIELD
Think you've heard more than enough about this year's maddeningly complex tax law? Think again. Unless you're hip to its devilish details, you may overlook year-end moves that could save you more t...
It's more important than ever to buy, and then hold, your mutual funds. Need proof? Consider this: Investors who bought the Oakmark fund at its August 1991 inception and stayed put for all 1,447 tr...
After reading the first stories in this special report, you're probably revved up by the idea that you can accumulate enough assets to provide all the money you'll need in retirement. But to really...
Here's one more reason to dislike the federal income tax code: It discriminates against women. Ed McCaffrey, author of the new book Taxing Women (University of Chicago, $29.95) and a University of ...
If you're among the vast majority of salaried employees doing their income taxes this spring, there aren't many changes in the tax code to get your blood boiling. (Does a $50 increase in the person...
Whether you're just starting to think about preparing your '96 tax return or have already filed, this story is sure to give you a jolt. Last November, MONEY tested the knowledge and ability of tax ...
DEAR INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE:
"THIS MUCH IS CLEAR: SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE." WITH THOSE words, I attempted to express your profound displeasure with our convoluted income tax code while testifying on your behalf before the Hous...
DIVORCE AIN'T pretty. There's anger. There's grief. And there's the need to move on. You can move to a new town, settle into a new business, surround yourself with a whole new group of friends. And...
After G.O.P. presidential aspirant Steve Forbes checked out the tax returns for 1966 through 1994 released by rival Robert Dole and his wife Elizabeth in January, he quipped that all the Doles' ret...
AT LAST, VOTERS AND POLITICIANS OF both parties have found something they can agree on: the need to overhaul the federal income tax code. Virtually every Republican presidential candidate is pushin...
Every year, the U.S. government gives up some $20 billion in tax revenues to subsidize the $1.2 trillion municipal bond market. It's a rare gift-American munis are the only major tax-exempt bazaar ...
The cataclysmic changes that sometimes rock the cozy world of Washington, D.C., usually begin quietly in the cities and towns of America, barely detected by pollsters and journalists. One such shoc...
Few policy proposals put as warm a glow in the hearts of American business leaders, entrepreneurs, and investors as the idea of cutting the tax rates on capital gains. Lower capital gains taxes red...
Shades of the early '80s. Back then, brokers and planners rang up their wealthy clients at year's end to get 'em into high-write-off tax shelters, many of which crashed and burned after tax reform ...
Congratulations! As the owner of a small business, you may not have GM-size profits, but you are likely -- if you're successful enough -- to pay taxes at a higher rate than GM. That dubious honor w...
The policy-wonk version of nation, flag, and motherhood is the earned-income tax credit (EITC), the refund given to the working poor at tax time. It is so beloved that a $20.8 billion expansion of ...
For taxpayers with six-figure incomes, the new tax law has already barked out its orders: Buy tax-free municipal bonds, ratchet up 401(k) contributions to cut taxable income, and stick with stocks ...
How will the new deficit-cutting tax law zap your family's finances? Let us count the ways: -- It dubs retirees with incomes as modest as $34,000 as affluent enough to pay taxes on as much as 85% o...
The U.S. tax system is an unwieldy, inefficient, ungodly mess -- and this summer's shenanigans in Washington have just made it worse. It penalizes the very investment we need to create jobs and imp...
In January 1990, Nader E. Soliman, a Germantown, Md. anesthesiologist, was on his way to making tax history. After a five-year dispute with the Internal Revenue Service over his 1983 income tax ret...
Margaret "Peggy" Richardson, the new Internal Revenue Service boss, faces some stiff challenges. Among them: preventing the complexities of a 1993 tax law from colliding with her promise to deliver...
Like most taxpayers, Clay Shaw of Fort Lauderdale finds the U.S. tax code almost incomprehensible. ''It is a rat's nest,'' he says. ''I'm a C.P.A. and a lawyer, and I got the highest grade in taxat...
Call it the rite of tax season. For the sixth year in a row, 50 professional tax preparers volunteered to complete a fictional family's 1992 federal income tax return and be judged by MONEY. And as...
AMERICANS don't save enough, and they don't invest enough in plant and equipment. Say that to almost any economist or politician -- liberal, conservative, progressive, supply-side, or neo-whatsit -...
OF THE MANY FINANCIAL INNOVATORS OF THE PAST 20 years, MONEY has singled out these eight. Although they themselves never became famous outside their fields, the creations they pioneered or populari...
A MONEY reporter recently asked a top federal tax official to explain why tax penalty collections -- for such infractions as filing late, missing estimated payments and making mistakes on returns -...
AS YOU SIT before the fire in the den of an evening, happily pondering the quiet piling-up of dollars in your portfolio, you will find it all too easy to forget about taxes. Who wants to think abou...
MAYBE IT WAS INEVITABLE: EVERY YEAR SINCE 1987, MONEY has asked 50 professional tax preparers to complete the federal income tax return of a hypothetical family. And every year fewer pros have aced...
READY for ''The Anti-Recessionary Tax Reduction Act of 1992 for Growth, Fairness, Competitiveness, and the American Way'' -- or whatever they wind up calling the grab bag of tax breaks now being de...
INVESTORS can look forward to tax planning this year without having to tune in C-SPAN each morning to see whether Congress has rewritten the tax code. For the first time since 1986, no major tax le...
THEY'RE AT IT again in Washington. After setting new lows in political ! discourse during last year's debate over the budget deficit, both parties want to tinker with the tax code some more. With '...
This past December, MONEY replayed an annual year-end ritual: we sent a detailed financial profile of a hypothetical household to 49 professional tax preparers who had agreed to use the data to com...
MAMAS, don't let your babies grow up to buy tax shelters. Willie Nelson should know. The country-western singer has paid more than $8 million in federal income taxes since 1982, but the IRS says th...
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