Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson will hold a one day conference on July 26th to focus attention on the US tax treatment of business income and how it might be improved. The conference will include a larger meeting in the Treasury Cash Room open to the press followed by at least two “break out” sessions for conference participants.
Why focus on corporate tax policy now? The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Markets, and other …
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First, the “Big Four” accounting firms weighed in on the Tax Gap. Now, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the trade association for the accounting community, has added its input.
While only 1.3 percent of accountants believe that honest errors are the main source of the Tax Gap — no surprise there, since these are the same folks who prepare our taxes — nearly half suggested the small business community was responsible for the underpayment of the remainder of taxes owed.
The survey is on their website, but just one more reason for the small …
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As reported in the press, last week the Senate failed to add a sizable energy tax package to its comprehensive energy bill prior to adoption.
The Senate voted 57-36 not to end debate (60 votes are needed) on the tax package that was offered as an amendment to the broader energy bill. This vote fell short despite the fact the Finance Committee reported the package out by a bipartisan vote of 15-5 vote just a few days earlier.
While the package itself has little directly affecting S corporations, there are a couple lessons to draw from the challenge Senate leadership is having …
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Congress returns this week following its Memorial Day recess. As expected, the Small Business tax package was signed into law along with the Iraqi War funding just before they left. This package included a number of S corporation reforms that we have been working on for years, and represents a significant improvement to the rules governing how S corporations operate.
Key reforms included relief from the dreaded “sting tax” as well as allowing trusts that hold S corporation stock to deduct their interest expenses, something other trusts have long been allowed to do. And while we did not get everything we …
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House Leadership has indicated that it will attach the $4.8 billion Small Business tax package to the second Iraq supplemental spending bill to be considered by the House this week. The tax package will likely remain the same, while the underlying spending bill will fund operations in Iraq for just three months. This approach will likely pass the House, but it appears to have significant challenges in the Senate and at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. As CongressDaily reported yesterday morning:
“McConnell labeled as a “uniquely bad idea” the House proposal backed by Appropriations Committee Chairman Obey …
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