Tax Reform | TaxConnections

16 Nov 2017

Message To President Trump From A Concerned Retired Tax Executive

TaxConnections Members provide valuable insight into tax reform proposals. As these new tax proposals make their way through the House and the Senate, it is important to learn from highly experienced tax experts who have their eyes on the implications of any changes proposed or made.

Tax professionals are the people you can trust who understand these tax proposals. There is no better expert to look to than a retired tax expert like Do Amirian who recently sent me a copy of his letter to President Trump regarding Tax Reform Per House Bill (62% Increase for the elderly). Retired tax executives are people who have the time and experience to see through the consequences of any new tax proposals. We need to learn from years of tax expertise!

Kat Jennings, TaxConnections CEO

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Honorable President Trump,

The House will have significant adverse tax impact on the elderly, with significant medical expenses because of the elimination of the medical expense deduction.

For example, I, and my spouse Violet, will experience a federal tax increase of 62% under the House bill because of the elimination of the medical expense deduction.

Such a tax increase, an incredible 62%, is unconscionable under any standard of fairness.

Mr. President, please retain this critical deduction for the elderly, who count in the tens of millions of individuals.

Respectfully and success with your Administration,

Dro Amirian

Retired Corporate Tax Executive

Los Angeles, California

Have a question? Contact Dro Amirian

Your comments are welcome!

Written by Dro Amirian | Posted in Donald Trump • Tax Reform

14 Nov 2017

Tax Reform Observations and What To Expect Next

What an exciting month so far for tax reform! We have an amended bill passed by the House Ways and Means Committee (by vote of 24-16). The bill, H.R. 1, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, was introduced just one week earlier. On November 9th, the Senate Finance Committee also released a 253-page summary by the Joint Committee on Taxation (most of the pages describe current law).

Written by Annette Nellen | Posted in Tax Reform

08 Nov 2017

US Tax Reform Bill Appears To Confiscate 12% of Retained Earnings of Certain Canadian Controlled Private Corporations

Kudos to Max Reed for his quick analysis on how the proposed U.S. Tax Reform bill may affect Canadian citizens/residents who also hold U.S. citizenship.

Reed’s analysis, which has been widely discussed at the Isaac Brock Society includes provisions that are very damaging to those who are the owners of Canadian Controlled Private Corporations (noting they are also under assault from Messrs. Trudeau and Morneau). The damaging provisions are both prospective and retrospective.

Written by John Richardson | Posted in Canada • Tax Reform • United States

07 Nov 2017

20 Sound Bites On Tax Reform

Like a good tax nerd I spent a beautiful Saturday reviewing the US House Tax Cuts and Jobs Act H.R. 1 Section-by-Section Summary. For your impending confrontation with Drunk Uncle (or Aunt) over the holiday season, the following is what I’ve been able to distill down to sound bites.

Written by John Dundon | Posted in Tax Cuts and Jobs Act • Tax Reform

03 Nov 2017

A Practical Guide to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

On Thursday, November 2^nd 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.

Written by Peter J. Scalise | Posted in Legislative • Tax Reform

26 Oct 2017

Following Congress On Its Path To Tax Reform

As Congress begins debating tax reform, you might be interested in an overview of the GOP’s proposed changes so you’ll have an understanding of what the proposals actually entail as you follow the debate and won’t have to rely on politically motivated analysis by the various media sources.

It is important to understand that the GOP’s tax reform proposal is actually only an overall framework of the tax legislation that will be formulated later by congressional committees. So it only provides the “big picture,” with details to be added later. However, the devil is always in the details, and you frequently have to read between the lines and listen to and read comments by Washington insiders to glean additional detail.

Based upon that, the following are the provisions of the proposed tax reform that will apply to individual taxpayers and small businesses.

Written by Aaron Giles | Posted in Tax Reform

26 Oct 2017

Timing Strategies Could Become More Powerful in 2017, Depending On What Happens With Tax Reform

Projecting your business income and expenses for this year and next can allow you to time when you recognize income and incur deductible expenses to your tax advantage. Typically, it’s better to defer tax. This may end up being especially true this year, if tax reform legislation is signed into law.

Here are two timing strategies that can help businesses defer taxes:

Written by William Rogers | Posted in Tax Reform

19 Oct 2017

Tax Reform Framework: A Summary & Observations

On September 27, 2017, the Big 6 released their Tax Reform framework to guide the drafting of Tax Reform Legislation. Here is my summary and observations.

The plan also states President Trump’s Four Principles of Tax Reform:

Simple, fair, easy to understand
Give American works a pay raise.
Make America a jobs market of the world
Bring back trillions of dollars of unrepatriated earnings

Written by Annette Nellen | Posted in Donald Trump Tax Plan • Tax Reform

19 Oct 2017

Americans Abroad Need Your Help With Tax Reform – Listen To Their Stories

Congressional Tax Reform has the opportunity to end the U.S. practice of imposing direct taxation on people who live in other countries. The majority of Americans are totally unaware of the issues surrounding Americans abroad. People are shocked to hear these stories. TaxConnections will continue to bring you these important stories of taxpayers around the world.

Written by Kat Jennings | Posted in Americans Abroad • Tax Reform

18 Oct 2017

Learn The Truth Watching Stunning Videos And Ask Congress For Tax Reform

Congressional Tax Reform has the opportunity to end the United States practice of imposing direct taxation on people who live in other countries. The majority of Americans are totally unaware of the current issues surrounding Americans abroad. People are shocked to hear these stories. TaxConnections will continue to bring you these heartbreaking stories of individuals around the world caught in this web of financial ruin!

Written by Kat Jennings | Posted in Tax Reform

28 Sep 2017

Tax Reform: Hope Springs Eternal This Fall

The next few weeks and months are shaping up to be an exciting time for advocates of tax reform. To be sure, the details of a tax reform bill have been shifting almost daily. But that is hardly surprising. If tax reform is to pass, a lot of key players with differing priorities and goals ultimately will have to agree on a unified approach. And if an agreement is eventually reached, the daily gyrations will be quickly forgotten.

There are, of course, many goals of tax reform. On a policy level, these include achieving greater economic efficiency, fairness, and international competitiveness. As an IRS official, I generally don’t take a position on these broad policy issues. Read More

Written by Nina Olson | Posted in Tax Policy

27 Sep 2017

Imposing Taxation On Tax Residents Of Other Countries

(This is Part 2 of my post discussing the South Africa tax situation. Part 1 is here.)

This is a follow up to my post exploring whether South Africa is moving to a tax system that is based on “citizenship-based taxation” or (in the case of the United States of America) “taxation-based citizenship”. That post was the result of a “special request”. The response from that first post included: Read More

Written by John Richardson | Posted in Citizenship