Bank and credit card rewards - taxable?

An article in the Los Angeles Times today (1/25/12) -" Citibank deems frequent-flier miles taxable, but does the IRS? " by David ...

AMT Out of Control - Way Past Time for it to Go!

Probably the most common response to what is one of the more complex and out-of-control parts of our federal income tax would be the alterna...

IRS encouraging individuals to help monitor return preparers

The IRS released an "FS" (Fact Sheet) today on "Tips for Choosing a Tax Return Preparer" ( FS-2012-5 ).  Among the tips ...

Feb. 3 Tax Policy Conference in Santa Clara - Don't Miss Out

2012 Tax Policy Conference -     Tax Reform: Status, Needs and Realities  Speaker just added - Mike Hauswirth, Tax Counsel for the House Wa...

Due diligence reminders for 2012 filing season

I teach several different graduate tax courses and make a lot of presentations including on tax law updates, so I have a good opportunity an...

Growth in Passthrough Entities and Terminology

A January 10, 2012 article in the Wall Street Journal caught my attention by the title - "More Firms Enjoy Tax-Free Status" by Mc...

Not Giving Up on Simplification

In mid-November, IRS Commissioner Shulman spoke at the Harvard Kennedy School, mostly about simplifying the tax law.  I was struck by how mu...

IRS Now Estimates Annual Tax Gap at $450 Billion

On Friday (1/6/12), the IRS released updated tax gap data showing that the annual tax gap is $450 billion (based on 2006 liabilities). The p...

Non-partisan tax reform

Les Samuels has an op ed in the Los Angeles Times suggesting six principles to help guide tax reform - "Sensible Taxation" (1/3/1...

Over 4 Million Kindles Sold in December 2011

A December 29, 2011 press release from Amazon states: " Throughout December, customers purchased well over 1 million Kindle de...