Tax Benefit | TaxConnections

14 Dec 2021

IRS Highlights Special Charitable Tax Benefit

Special rule helps most people get a deduction of up to $300 per individual, $600 for couples for gifts to charity; National Council of Nonprofits and Independent Sector highlight how donations can help the nation’s charitable community.

The Internal Revenue Service joined with several leading nonprofit groups to highlight a special tax provision that allows more people to deduct donations to qualifying charities on their 2021 federal income tax return.

The Independent Sector and National Council of Nonprofits joined with the IRS to highlight this pandemic-related provision where married couples filing jointly can deduct up to $600 in cash donations and individual taxpayers can deduct up to $300 in donations.

Written by TaxConnections Admin | Posted in IRS Charitable Tax Benefits

29 Oct 2015

Will Your Favorite Tax Benefit Expire?

More than 50 tax provisions that Congress routinely extends on a yearly basis expired at the end of 2014. The big problem is each year they are extending the provisions later and later in the year creating uncertainty for taxpayers on whether they can depend on these tax incentives or not. This makes tax planning unclear and leaves taxpayers wondering about their projected tax liability.

For 2014, Congress waited almost to the end of the year to apply many of the provisions to the 2014 tax year. This was not only a problem for taxpayers but also for the IRS, which needed to adjust its forms and tax filing software at the last minute and actually had to delay the start of the tax season. Read More

Written by Barry Fowler | Posted in Tax Provision/Tax Reporting

15 Sep 2015

Structuring Investment in India – Does Mauritius Holdco Work?

Tax authorities worldwide distaste the word “treaty shopping” as such. In recent times, OECD has worked out guidelines for BEPS and most U.S. tax treaties have “Limitation of Benefit” clause that prevents abusive tax planning. However, there may still be some opportunities available to U.S. investors in India; one such avenue is investing via Mauritius Holdco structures.

A lot of foreign investors prefer to route their investment through Mauritius in India. Since the India- Mauritius double tax avoidance agreement offers exemption from capital gains tax to Mauritian residents. It has been the key incentive provided by the Indo-Mauritius tax treaty where by tax on capital gains is exempted for investors from Mauritius. As per the last finance bill almost 42% of the foreign direct investment into India is routed through Read More

Written by Pallav Acharya | Posted in OECD

14 Oct 2014

Minister’s Housing Allowance Subject of Court Battles

The housing allowance is a significant tax benefit for a minister. It can result in thousands of dollars in tax savings annually. The law currently allows a minister to occupy a church-owned parsonage without paying income tax on the value of the accommodations. Alternatively, the church may designate an amount to be paid to the minister as housing allowance. This amount, when used for housing costs, is not subject to income tax. Both a parsonage and a housing allowance are subject to self-employment taxes.