Anyone that regular follows the news and arguments in Washington about taxes knows that capital gains are taxable to one extent or another because the capital gains tax has been the subject of a great deal of vigorous debate in Congress and between the political parties. As such a contentious tax, it is frequently changed or modifies by Congress. For … more

The American tax code is an extremely complex body of laws and regulations that really requires a degree of expertise to get the most out of the opportunities contained within it. Of course people with very simple tax situations do not necessarily need professional assistance, but then again their ability to maximize their refunds or minimize their liabilities is also … more

One of the most daunting aspects of the American tax system is just the simple fact that it changes each year. Some of these changes are built into the legislation that enacted the measure, which is why many limits and income restrictions change every year. Other changes stem from the fact that the progressive tax system used by the United … more

The American tax code is extremely complicated, and though this means that it can be a pain to file your annual return, it also means that there are a lot of ways to either increase the amount of your refund or decrease the amount of your tax liability. Despite this, most people are aware of at least some of the … more

Like it or not, the American tax system is extremely complex. The tax code alone runs to many thousands of pages and the additional regulations run to many more thousands of pages. The result is one of the most complicated tax systems in the world and many people spend their entire professional careers learning how to handle different aspects of … more

One of the defining characteristics of the American tax code is that it is used for more than merely raising government revenue. Instead, the progressive tax system is also used to encourage behavior deemed socially beneficial, discourage behavior considered socially undesirable and to remedy or relieve temporary economic difficulties. The homebuyer tax credits fall into the latter category, being specifically … more

The 1099 series of forms are known as “information returns” and required by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to be issued by almost all non-employer payers – people, organizations, or institutions that pay money to American taxpayers – in the United States. These information returns show the amount of money paid to the taxpayer as well as other relevant information … more

Few things in American society are as dreaded as being audited by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The tax code is so complex, it is almost a given that if the auditors dig deep enough and look hard enough eventually they will find mistakes and then charge all the relevant penalties (and interest for older errors). The general process is … more

Technically speaking, there is no specific age or time period that determines when a person must stop claiming a child as a dependent. In fact, even the elderly can be claimed as dependents as “qualifying relatives” regardless of their age. However, the determination of who can be claimed as a dependent is fairly complex. There are a number of basic … more

The Earned Income credit (EIC), or more properly the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), is a refundable tax credit that is available to many lower income tax payers based on a means test. Since enacted in 1975, the EIC has evolved into a much larger tax credit than originally envisioned and one of the most successful federal programs to assist … more