With new tax legislation comes new tax games, which is the topic the new paper, “The Games They Will Play: Tax Games, Roadblocks, and Glitches Under the New Legislation,” available from SSRN.  I haven’t reviewed it, but it has received a large amount of publicity in the press.  It’s written by a group of tax professors. Read More

On Thursday, November 2nd the House of Representatives released a draft of their tax reform legislation entitled ‘The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’ as presented by the Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX). This legislation represents the largest proposed transformation of the U.S. tax code in more than thirty years. While both changes are expected in the committee markup phase and the Senate will certainly bring its own priorities to the process, this release is the first bill text we’ve seen from a tax-writing committee. The goal of President Trump and the Republicans in Congress is to have a final tax bill enacted ideally before the Thanksgiving break, but certainly before the calendar year end of 2017. The subsequent synopsis will serve to highlight just some of the more significant provisions of this bill in its current form and its impact on both individuals and businesses.

Read More

As you know, we’ve been following the online sales tax debate for years. From the Marketplace Fairness Act to states taking matters into their own hands, it’s been interesting to follow as lawmakers debate how to handle imposing state sales tax on internet retailers. It’s especially difficult given the wide variety of taxes and fees that would need to be imposed at a state, county and city level. Read More

What are the proposed tax changes to private corporations that the Canadian government made in July 2017 and what do these changes mean for my company?

On July 18, 2017, the Canadian government proposed tax changes in an effort to remove tax advantages that small business owners have and address aggressive tax planning strategies involving the use of private corporations. These proposed changes are open for discussion until October 2, 2017, before being formally submitted for legislation. Read More

John Richardson

The Maloney Approach

This is a continuation from a previous article, FATCA’s Same Country Exemption Won’t Work.

On April 25, 2017 Congresswoman Maloney introduced H.R. 2136: “To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an exception from certain reporting requirements with respect to the foreign accounts of individuals who live abroad.”

Read More

John RIchardson

(This blog is continued from a longer set of posts which you can find here: Part 1: Introducing FATCA – What Does It Mean In Your Life? and Part 2: FATCA:  How Does The Meadows Bill Interact?)

I was asked to answer the question:

“What exactly would it mean to repeal FATCA?”

The short answer to the question is:

“We make FATCA go away by reversing all the changes to the Internal Revenue Code that collectively comprise FATCA.”

Read More

Monika Miles, multistate tax, colorado, online sales tax

As we’ve been following the online sales tax debate in previous posts, we’ve mostly approached the issue as it affects the country as a whole. While Congress has continued to debate how to handle taxing internet shoppers, however, states have been taking matters into their own hands. This upcoming series will look at new legislation coming out in different state legislatures across the country, beginning with Colorado.

Read More

Monika Miles

Last week, we discussed various multi-state tax issues software companies often overlook. This week we look at another industry that often misses sales and use tax ramifications on their sales: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Many think that because it’s not a tangible product or even clearly defined as a service (at least according to traditional definitions), these companies don’t need to worry about state sales tax. Keep reading to find out why this could be a costly mistake.

Read More

House of Representatives

TaxConnections invites each of you to participate in an important journey! A journey that will engage you in the making of new tax laws in the United States Committee on Ways and Means! The Committee on Ways And Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives and all bills regarding taxation must go through this committee.

Read More

As a forward to this Special Article, I want to tell you it has been written by our new TaxConnections Member Tom Kerester. Tom has extensive experience on Capitol Hill in the United States Congress as a Legislative Attorney on the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (that served five committees of the Congress) and on the House Committee on Ways and Means. As a Former Executive Director of Tax Executives Institute (1985-1992) in Washington, D.C., Tom then went on to a Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation under the Administration of George H.W. Bush as Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the United States Small Business Administration and in the Congressional Office of Congressman Bill Thomas (CA). Tom also was the 1st President of the Capitol Hill Chapter of the Federal Bar Association whose members included over 300 Attorneys working on the Hill, and now has over 13,000 lawyer members worldwide. 

Read More