Standard deductions and the personal exemption will both increase slightly for the 2016 tax year according to the Revenue Procedure 2015 document released by the IRS October 21. Revised tax tables are shown below. Beginning in 2016, the allowable itemized deductions are $311,300 in the case of a joint return or a surviving spouse, $285,350 in the case of a …
Louisiana convened its 2015 legislative session with seemingly insurmountable problems: a $1.6 billion budget shortfall, difficult-to-navigate funding dedications, and a governor who pledged he wouldn’t increase taxes. If that combination seems intractable, it wasâ€â€the session closed with a patchwork of short-term, temporary fixes to plug the budget hole with promises that legislators would be back in the next legislative session …
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing a Tax Court decision, concluded that the tax law’s limits on the amount of debt eligible for the home mortgage interest deduction ($1 million of mortgage “acquisition” debt and $100,000 of home equity debt) are applied on a per-individual basis, and not a per-residence basis as the IRS has long maintained.Thus, for the …
There were a number of important tax developments in the third quarter of 2015 including changes to “per diem” travel expense reimbursements. An employer may pay a per-diem amount to an employee on business-travel status instead of reimbursing actual substantiated expenses for away-from-home lodging, meal and incidental expenses. If the rate paid doesn’t exceed IRS-approved maximums, and the employee provides …
Presidential candidate Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has released his tax reform proposal which, among other things, seeks to reduce individual income tax rates, eliminate the corporate income tax, and reduce tax code complexity. The Wall Street Journal reported that a focus of the plan is to ensure that everyone contributes to income tax revenue, citing Jindal’s campaign which argues …
Taxes are a crucial component of a country’s international competitiveness. In today’s globalized economy, the structure of a country’s tax code is an important factor for businesses when they decide where to invest, how much to invest, and which types of operations to locate in which countries. No longer can a country levy high taxes on business investment and activity …
Bloomberg is predicting a lower effective tax rate in 2016 because of a drop in the consumer price index (CPI). The CPI measures the cost of goods and services. When the CPI doesn’t change much, it tends to signal that interest rates will stay put. For 2016, Bloomberg is projecting that the personal exemption amount will be $4,050, up from …
Many filing deadlines have changed by Congress and small business owners need to be aware of the new filing dates. The changes came in an unlikely vehicle, H.R. 3236, the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015. That non-tax law also gave the IRS an increased audit period from three to six years in many cases. …
More than a quarter of the nearly 13 million taxpayers who requested an automatic six-month extension this year have yet to file. Although Oct. 15 is the last day for most people, some still have more time, including members of the military and others serving in Afghanistan or other combat zone localities who typically have until at least 180 days …
IRS Form 990 is an informational tax form that most tax-exempt organizations must file annually. The form gives the IRS an overview of the organization’s activities, governance and detailed financial information. Form 990 also includes a section for the organization to outline its accomplishments in the previous year to justify maintaining its tax-exempt status. In collecting this information, the IRS …
