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The U.S. federal tax code, ratified in 1913, started at around 27 pages, but is now estimated to be 6,571 pages for the 2021 tax year. If the dense language has you frustrated, you’re not alone. Tax laws can be complicated, whether they’re federal or state. There are many confusing laws with seemingly undecipherable sentences or weird distinctions between what is and is not taxable — the difference can seriously impact your money. We all know we need to get our taxes wrapped up before the April 18 deadline, but if you feel like procrastinating, let’s take a break from...

New tax laws by Democrats are on deck and in the books. And if you have an IRA or will inherit one, these changes may impact you in a huge way.Proposed Tax LawThe Responsibly Funding Our Priorities Act as proposed by the Democrats Ways and Means Committee in the House will kill private placements in IRAs. Section 138312Sec. 138312. Prohibition of IRA Investments Conditioned on Account Holder’s Status. The bill prohibits an IRA from holding any security if the issuer of the security requires the IRA owner to have certain minimum level of assets or income, or have completed a...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently complained that the cap on the SALT (state and local tax) deduction is causing people to flee New York. That’s like a recent college graduate complaining that his parents’ decision to cut off his monthly allowance has forced him to get a job and face a budget. It’s not the new SALT cap causing New Yorkers to flee. Even before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act limited the SALT deduction to $10,000, New York’s population fell by 1.9 million from 2005 to 2016. Rather, if anything, it would be the state’s high taxes. At $6,993 per...

Sean Zielenbach writes a check to prepay his property taxes Wednesday at Alexandria City Hall. People across the United States rushed this week to pay their 2018 property taxes early, hoping to take advantage one last time of a federal deduction that will be scaled back under the tax-code overhaul signed by President Trump. On Wednesday, however, the ­Internal Revenue Service announced that those prepayments could be deducted only in limited circumstances, a decision that appeared to invalidate many taxpayers’ efforts and raised the prospect that local governments could come under pressure to refund millions of dollars. The announcement...

The Dark Road: The Worst Tax Law You've Never Heard About 08 April 2014 A little-known tax law threatens the privacy, and even lives, of millions of people and the stability of the U.S. economy while laying the foundation for a global tax regime. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act ( FATCA ) ... Full Article:http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/item/17986-the-dark-road-the-worst-tax-law-you-ve-never-heard-about

March 26, 2014 10:44 AM Read the Complete List of Obamacare Delays By Alec Torres The Obama administration will announce its tenth Obamacare delay later today, this time extending the March 31 enrollment deadline for people who say they’ve been unable to enroll in health plans in the federal marketplace by the deadline. The extension applies to the federal exchange operating in three dozen states and is expected to last for two or three weeks. Can’t remember what all the delays have been? Politico provided a helpful history of Obamacare delays from most to least recent: March 25: Final enrollment...

Beware the sledgehammer used to crack the nut. In this case, the nut is the U.S. government's laudable goal of catching tax evaders. The sledgehammer is the overreaching effect of legislation that is alienating other countries and resulting in millions of U.S. citizens abroad being forced to either painfully reconsider their nationality, or face a lifetime of onerous bureaucracy, expense and privacy invasion. The legislation is Fatca, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. To appreciate its breathtaking scope along with America's unique "citizen-based" tax practices, imagine this: You were born in California, moved to New York for education or work,...

More Questions than Answers - By: Larry Walker, Jr. -Herman Cain argues that the reason we need his 999-Plan is because the tax law is too complicated. But is it really? I’ve worked with the tax law for 30 years, and I don’t think it’s all that complicated. It may have some complex calculations, mainly related to a few special write-offs and credits, but the basic bedrock of the Internal Revenue Code isn’t at all complex. Following Cain’s logic, if the tax law is so complicated that it needs to be “thrown out” and replaced, then isn’t our entire legal...

The US House of Representatives passed a $15 billion dollar bill designed to stimulate job creation. The bill passed narrowly 217-201 on Thursday with little Republican support. ...this is probably a waste of money.

While Oregon Measure 67 focused on corporations, Measure 66 has three provisions that affect individual taxpayers. The first two provisions target “the rich” with tax increases and the third affects Oregonians receiving unemployment compensation.

I'm looking for help with what I thought was a very simple question, and after a fruitless search online I'm hoping an astute Freeper with some knowledge of tax law could help me. My question is a simple one: If a condominium association or homeowners association (HOA) is organized under applicable state law as a Non-Profit Corporation, what type of organization would it typically be considered under Federal tax law? The IRS website uses a "real estate board" as one example of a 501(c)(6) organization (along with chambers of commerce, trade organizations, etc.), but I'd like to verify that this...

After several courtroom battles, Marrita Murphy lost. Her case attracted widespread interest because it involved an important question -- and also because she initially won a major round in court. The issue: Should Ms. Murphy have to pay federal income tax on a $70,000 award she received from a former employer for emotional distress and loss of reputation? She argued the award wasn't taxable. She paid the tax -- more than $20,000 -- and later sought a refund. In 2006, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in her favor. The...

Members of Congress heard testimony against the activist group ACORN on Thursday, exposing the group's illegal activity and mafia-style tactics. Pittsburgh lawyer Heather Heidelbaugh appeared before the a House Judiciary subcommittee alleging that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has violated campaign finance and tax laws in addition to their protest-for-hire and coerced donations. The source of the accusations was from the sworn testimony of ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief, who was a clerk for ACORN's sister organization called Project Vote. MonCrief, a Democrat and Obama supporter, testified last year that Barack Obama's campaign gave Project Vote a...

The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry. In the midst of this late-September drama, the Treasury Department issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention. But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: Administration officials had just given American banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion. The sweeping change to two decades of tax policy escaped the notice of lawmakers for several days, as they remained consumed with the controversial bailout bill. When they...

This year is going to be a happy one -- at least for some taxpayers. Among the many changes that became effective on New Year's Day are higher contribution limits for 401(k) plans, a decline in the top federal estate-tax rate and a new deduction for many people who buy mortgage insurance. The standard mileage rate rose. So did the personal exemption, income brackets and dozens of other tax items adjusted for inflation every year. While these and other changes will bring relief to millions of taxpayers, many will be hit by higher taxes. About 11 million workers will have...

From our intrepid correspondent on site down in Texas, Crawford Activist, we have this photo of Cindy Sheehan registering to vote in the local post office last Tuesday: Crawford Activist reports that Mother Sheehan then left Crawford late Tuesday afternoon to attend a conference in Seattle she is headlining. Ms. Sheehan is supposed to return to Crawford Friday morning in time to protest the RNC fundraiser near the President's ranch. Then Cindy is off again to give a speech in Washington, DC on Saturday. It seems she just can't resist those speaking fees.But hasn't our hero mother broken Texas law...

<p>OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- A recent Sunday found Tina Kolm changing her morning routine. Instead of attending a Unitarian Universalist service, she was at the Lenexa Christian Center, paying close attention to a conservative minister's sermon about the importance of amending the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex "marriage."</p>

The $50 million Dems The real VIPs in the fight to oust George W. Bush won’t be on the FleetCenter stage next week. They’re the wealthy funders of progressive ‘527’ groups. BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN ONE YEAR AGO, conventional political wisdom held that the Democratic presidential nominee would be in trouble right now. After spending all his cash in a tough primary battle, the thinking went, the candidate would have to spend April through June scrambling to raise money for the general campaign. In the meantime, Bush’s team would be free to use that three-month window to define the Democrats’...

BOSTON - Howard Dean (news - web sites) isn't running for president anymore, but you'd never know it from the reception he got Sunday night. Speaking to a crowd of young voters at a party sponsored by Rock the Vote and Democratic Gain, Dean was welcomed like a rock star. He could barely get through the crowd. Once he reached the stage, with his shirt sleeves characteristically rolled up above the elbows, he was greeted with chants of "Dean, Dean, Dean" echoing back to his rallies this past winter, when the former Vermont governor was running for the Democratic nomination....

(CNSNews.com) - In a letter to a conservative, pro-family group, the Internal Revenue Service established this week that homosexual couples filing joint tax returns would be in violation of the law under the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The Defense of Marriage Act, signed by President Clinton in 1996, says the states will not be forced to recognize homosexual marriages and it legally defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. "Because of this statute, only married individuals under this definition could elect to file a joint tax return," said the June 14 letter addressed to Public...