Tag Archive for Tax Reform

Congressional Record – Tax Cuts And Jobs Act (Part 20)

Congress, Tax Cuts And Jobs Act, tax reform

(This post directly follows the previous post which now focuses on discussion and debate of the new tax bill.)

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut: Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for a unanimous consent request.(Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. JACKSON LEE: Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record The Washington Post op-ed, “The Republican tax plan’s five worst dangers,” by Secretary Rubin, dated November 15, 2017

[From the Washington Post, Nov. 15, 2017]

The Republican Tax Plan’s Five Worst Dangers

(By Robert Rubin) Read More

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Congressional Record – Tax Cuts And Jobs Act (Part 19)

Congress, Tax Cuts And Jobs Act, tax reform

(This post directly follows the previous post which now focuses on discussion and debate of the new tax bill.)

Mr. BRADY of Texas: Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut: Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), the voice of Houston.

Ms. JACKSON LEE: Mr. Speaker, this is not the American Dream tax plan. This is the American nightmare, a tax scam of the worst proportion. Read More

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Hardship Exemption Rules For Not Having Health Insurance Eased

Chuck Woodson, tax penalties, Healthcare, The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, tax reform

The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) included a “shared responsibility payment,” which in reality is a penalty for not having health insurance. Along with this penalty came a whole slew of exemptions from the penalty, including some that were designated as “hardship” exemptions. However, the hardship relief from the penalty required pre-approval from the government health insurance marketplace, which required the applicant to provide documentary evidence of the hardship. Once approved, the applicant was issued an exemption certificate number (ECN) that needed to be included on the individual’s tax return to avoid the penalty.  Read More

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Congressional Record – Tax Cuts And Jobs Act (Part 18)

Congress, Tax Cuts And Jobs Act

(This post directly follows the previous post which now focuses on discussion and debate of the new tax bill.)

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut: Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from New York an additional 15 seconds.

Mr. CROWLEY: Mr. Speaker, on behalf of hardworking Americans throughout this country, I say, vote “no” on H.R. 1, vote “no” on H.R. 1 percent.

Mr. BRADY of Texas: Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes).

Mr. ESTES of Kansas: Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Brady for his efforts to get this tax reform bill done.

Our outdated and uncompetitive Tax Code has led to slow economic growth over the past decade in America. Today, we are taking an important step to fix that. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will reform the Tax Code and help foster economic growth. Read More

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New Employer Tax Credit For Paid Family And Medical Leave

Tax Credit, Paid medical leave, Paid Family Leave, tax reform

Today the IRS announced that eligible employers who provide paid family and medical leave to their employees may qualify for a new business credit for tax years 2018 and 2019.

In addition, eligible employers who set up qualifying paid family leave programs or amend existing programs by Dec. 31, 2018, will be eligible to claim the employer credit for paid family and medical leave, retroactive to the beginning of the employer’s 2018 tax year, for qualifying leave already provided. Read More

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Congressional Record – Tax Cuts And Jobs Act (Part 15)

Tax Reform, Tax Code, House of Representatives

(This is a direct response to the previous post which asked to oppose the language effectively repealing the Johnson Amendment for houses of worship)

Mr. NEAL: Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth), the ranking member of the Budget Committee, and one of the most knowledgeable Members of the House.

Mr. YARMUTH: Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my friend yielding time.Mr. Speaker, this is a horror show today, this is a horror showdebate, and this is a horror show process, but it is a disaster for the American people. Read More

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The Progressive, Creditable Implied Purchases Tax

A MODEST, SELF-HELP PROPOSAL ENABLING INDIVIDUAL STATES TO ADDRESS THE REMOTE SELLER TAX PROBLEM AND MUCH MORE

As the States’ and any Congressional responses to the United States Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in the remote seller sales tax enforcement case of South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., et al, 585 U.S.___ (2018) begin to emerge, this is to describe a simple proposal by which any individual state can effectively enforce its use tax on remote sales, mitigate the related compliance concerns of remote sellers AND enable its pursuit of other major state tax policy objectives. Read More

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Tax Reform 2.0 Is In The Works

Charles Woodson - Tax Reform Is In The Works

The dust has not yet settled from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), passed into law in December 2017, and the House Ways and Means Committee is already considering another round of tax changes. The committee chair, Kevin Brady, Republican from Texas, wants to include input from stakeholders such as business groups, think tanks and other relevant organizations. Historically, major tax reforms have been decades apart, so the committee chair is looking for another approach to the way Washington deals with tax policy.

As with all tax legislation, it begins with talking points. From what we can gather, it appears the focus of Tax Reform 2.0 will include:

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Has Tax Reform Taken Away Your Home Mortgage Interest Deduction?

Charles Woodson, Home Mortgage Deduction, Tax Reform, Tax Advisor, San Diego, CA

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, more commonly referred to as tax reform, substantially altered the itemized deduction for home mortgage interest and affects just about everyone who has been deducting their home mortgage interest as an itemized deduction on their tax returns.

Background: To fully understand the impact of the law changes, we need to compare the prior tax law to the new tax reform. Under prior law, a taxpayer could deduct the interest he or she paid on up to $1 million of acquisition debt and $100,000 of equity debt secured by the taxpayer’s primary home and/or designated second home.

Qualified home acquisition debt is debt incurred to purchase, construct, or substantially improve a taxpayer’s primary home or second home and is secured by the home. The interest paid on up to $1 million of acquisition debt has been deductible as part of itemized deductions on Schedule A.

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Big Changes For Vehicle Tax Deductions

Charles Woodson, Estate Planning, Vehicle Deductions, San Diego Tax Advisor

In the past, the business use of a vehicle was determined either by using the standard mileage rate for business or using actual expenses plus vehicle depreciation limited by the luxury auto caps. That continues to be the case, except the luxury auto depreciation limit has been substantially increased. In addition, there are other changes as detailed below.

Standard Mileage Rates – The standard mileage rates for the business use of a car (or a van, pickup, or panel truck) are:

STANDARD MILEAGE RATES FOR BUSINESS
2017
2018
53.5 Cents Per Mile
54.5 Cents Per Mile

However, the standard mileage rates cannot be used if you have used the actual expense method (using Sec. 179, bonus depreciation and/or MACRS depreciation) in previous years. This rule is applied on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis. In addition, the business standard mileage rate cannot be used for any vehicle used for hire or for more than four vehicles simultaneously.

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Tax Reform And Section 199A Deductions Overview

Jim Marshall, Tax And Financial Advisor, Scottsdale, Arizona

A key portion of the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) is Section 199A and its deduction of qualified business income. Section 199A allows taxpayers other than corporations a deduction of 20 percent of qualified business income that is earned in a qualified trade or business, though this has some limitations. There are both positive and negative aspects to the changes depending on your situation.

Tax Adviser outlines the following crucial points about Section 199A:

  • The deduction is limited to the greater of

(1)   50% of the W-2 wages with respect to the trade or business or

(2)   the sum of 25% of the W-2 wages, plus 2.5% of the unadjusted basis immediately after acquisition of all qualified property (generally, tangible property subject to depreciation under Sec. 167). In addition, the deduction also may not exceed (1) taxable income for the year over (2) net capital gain plus aggregate qualified cooperative dividends.

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Written by | Posted in Tax Deduction Strategies • Tax Reform-Section 199A Deductions

Tax Cuts And Jobs Act – Professor Annette Nellen Highlights Changes In Tax Legislation On Existing Tax Code

Tax Reform – A Few Provisions In Track Changes

I often find it helpful to see how tax legislation changes existing Internal Revenue Code sections. So, I took a few and made the modifications called for in P.L. 115-97 (12/22/17) (the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act), and show how they change the relevant Code section using track changes.  I also include the effective date information.  For the changes to 448, I also include a caution about how the favorable methods changes don’t apply to “tax shelters” which could include some limited partnerships and LLCs even though they don’t act like a typical tax shelter.

Here are the ones I modified:

Section 1 – tax rates including kiddie tax change

Section 62 – changes to AGI

Section 163 – changes to mortgage interest and the new interest limitation for non-small entities (and tax shelters – see comment above)

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