By ROBERT W. WOOD – Forbes.com Do You Feel Lucky?  No one wants to be audited.  And yet as a tax lawyer advising clients about tax issues, I’m required by Treasury Department rules to assume every return will be audited.  In truth, there might be only a 2% chance of audit. When I say there’s [...]

By LAURA SAUNDERS of the Wall Street Journal In a rare show of leniency, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Thursday announced new rules designed to make it easier for people struggling with tax debts to climb out of the hole. Among the changes, the IRS said it would place fewer claims on taxpayers’ property [...]

Staff – Journal of Accountancy Congress adjourned its year-end lame-duck session on Wednesday after passing legislative fixes for several pending tax issues, including the estate tax, the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, an alternative minimum tax (AMT) patch, and extensions of many expired provisions. However, it failed to repeal the expanded Form [...]

By Janet Hook and John McKinnon – Wall Street Journal WASHINGTON—Congress passed the most far-reaching tax bill in a decade late Thursday, averting across-the-board tax increases, enacting new breaks for individuals and businesses and laying a marker for how Washington might work in an era of divided government. The bill goes to the White House [...]

by Bob Veres Dealing With US Debt If you want to watch something alarming, look at the U.S. Debt Clock (http://www.usdebtclock.org/), which calculates, second-by-second, America’s rising debt (approaching $14 trillion), federal spending (nearly $3.5 trillion a year) and budget deficit (roughly $1.3 trillion).  Second-by-second the numbers increase, and you can also watch (more slowly) the [...]

Uncertainty in Washington Is Creating Confusion for Investors Trying to Minimize Their Tax Burden. Here’s What You Need to Know—and Do. By Laura Saunders – Wall Street Journal There are plenty of reasons for taxpayers to scream. Here it is, year-end tax-planning time, when investors must decide whether to take gains or harvest losses and [...]

By Jon Coupal This fall has been especially frightening. There have been the little monsters at our doors on Halloween, the monstrous politicians invading our homes through the television, and there has been that property tax bill in the mail box. Fortunately, as a direct result of Proposition 13, which limits increases in a property’s [...]

By JILIAN MINCER You soon may be able to move savings from a regular 401(k) retirement account to a Roth 401(k) thanks to a new law aimed at keeping workers within the company plans. Taxes Now or Later on Retirement $ Those who make the move to the Roth 401(k) version, which will be available [...]

Planning allocations between entities and beneficiaries is even more critical with higher tax rates on the horizon. By Sonja Pippin, Ph.D. – Journal of Accountancy New tax laws will have a significant impact on the taxation of trusts. If you, or someone you know, is acting as trustee to an irrevocable trust, then you need [...]

Whether rates are high or low, evidence shows our tax system won’t collect more than 20% of GDP. By David Ranson – Wall Street Journal The Greeks have always been trendsetters for the West. Washington has repudiated two centuries of U.S. fiscal prudence as prescribed by the Founding Fathers in favor of the modern Greek [...]