Friday, January 27, 2012

President Barack Obama welcomed a stronger than expected December unemployment report on Friday and urged Congress to extend a payroll tax cut until the end of 2012 to help the country’s economic recovery maintain momentum.

“We’re making progress. We’re moving in the right direction. And one of the reasons for this is the tax cut for working Americans that we put in place last year,” he said.

“When Congress returns they should extend the middle class tax cut for all of this year, to make sure we keep this recovery going,” he told workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to welcome its new director, Richard Cordray.
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IRS: $385 Billion Unpaid Taxes in ’06

by taxnick on January 6, 2012

The Internal Revenue Service estimates that U.S. companies and individuals failed to pay $385 billion in taxes they owed in 2006, an increase from $290 billion five years earlier.

The agency said the rate of compliance remained almost unchanged at 85.5 percent, down slightly from 86.3 percent in 2001. The IRS announcement today is the first update to the so- called tax gap estimate in five years. The gap grew because the income base expanded between 2001 and 2006, the agency said.

“Despite what seems to be increasing complexity, Americans’ compliance remained steady,” Frank Keith, an IRS spokesman, said in a telephone interview today.
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Democrats Abandon Millionaire Surtax Proposal

by taxnick on December 15, 2011

Democrats are abandoning their demand for a surtax on millionaires to help finance payroll tax cuts in a sign that lawmakers are trying to broker a compromise on Congress’ highest-profile year-end dispute.

Even so, there is no clear path to quick bipartisan agreement on the legislation, which would prevent an automatic Social Security tax increase on 160 million workers and the expiration of jobless benefits for people out of work the longest. Both would occur Jan. 1 without congressional action.

Lawmakers are also embroiled in a squabble over a huge, separate spending bill, a dispute that would force a shutdown of most of the government on Saturday unless it is resolved. Neither party wants to risk the wrath of voters by shuttering government doors.

Republicans say they plan to try winning House approval for a $1 trillion measure financing dozens of agencies through next September.

But that means a conflict with the White House, whose communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, said President Barack Obama had problems with some social, environmental and other provisions in the legislation. Pfeiffer said Congress should approve a short-term bill to keep the government open while final disputes are resolved.

House Republicans officially unveiled the massive, bipartisan spending bill late Wednesday to fulfill transparency rules, but Senate Democrats had yet to officially sign on. However, the measure wasn’t expected to change much, if at all, before a vote Friday, despite White House protests and an explicit veto threat regarding provisions placing limits on the ability of Cuban immigrants to visit families on the island or send money back to them.

The pre-Christmas wrangling caps a contentious year in a capital hindered by divided government, with Democrats controlling the White House and Senate while Republicans run the House. Lawmakers have engaged in down-to-the-wire drama even when performing the most mundane acts of governing, such as keeping agencies functioning and extending federal borrowing authority, tasks that are only becoming more politically delicate as the calendar nears the 2012 election year.

That finger-pointing was reflected Wednesday in some of the back and forth between party leaders.

“My friend is living in a world of non-reality,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who had suggested that Congress quickly complete its spending work. Reid said unresolved disputes made that impossible.

“The House has done its work. It’s time for the Senate to do theirs,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, referring to House approval this week of payroll tax legislation.
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ILLINOIS SALES TAX NEWS

November 27, 2011

According to a  recent report in the Huffington Post, Illinois ranks in only the eighth position of the top ten highest sales tax States in the United States.  That may come as a surprise to many residents of Cook County and perhaps even more of a surprise to residents of the City of Chicago where [...]

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Find top Tax Lawyers

November 27, 2011

TAX LAWYER DIRECTORY

IRS AUDITS – POST AUDIT LITIGATION
IRS APPEALS – POST APPEAL LITIGATION
SALES TAX & USE TAX AUDITS
FEDERAL REFUND LITIGATION
TAX COURT PETITIONS
LITIGATION WITH ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

If you are in the need of civil or criminal tax attorney, check out the Tax Attorney Directory for top tax lawyers.

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LA Mayor Tests ‘Third Rail’ in Call for Proposition 13 Changes

August 17, 2011

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposed dismantling California’s Proposition 13, which helped begin a nationwide anti-tax movement, in favor of a “grand bargain” that would boost levies on business property.
The Democrat who leads California’s largest city called on Governor Jerry Brown not to shrink from making sweeping changes in state tax laws that Villaraigosa, 58, [...]

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IRS: Aug. 31 Deadline Is Second Special Voluntary Disclosure Initiative of Offshore Accounts

August 14, 2011

U.S. taxpayers hiding income in undisclosed offshore accounts are running out of time to take advantage of a soon-to-expire opportunity to come forward and get their taxes current with the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS today reminded taxpayers that the 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative (OVDI) will expire on Aug. 31, 2011. Taxpayers who come forward [...]

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Tax Deadlines For 2010 Deaths? IRS Finally Issues Guidance

August 11, 2011

On August 5, 2011, the IRS published long-awaited guidance for executors of estates of people who died in 2010. Notice 2011-66 explains how these executors can opt out of the estate tax, and Revenue Procedure 2011-41 explains the special tax rules that apply to assets when executors opt out of the estate tax.
The estate tax [...]

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Amazon Gather Anti-Sales Tax Signatures Outside Retail Stores

August 5, 2011

Amazon.com Inc. is giving bricks-and-mortar retailers yet another reason to fume.
As the online giant begins its quest to overturn a new California law requiring it to collect sales taxes just like its Main Street competitors, it’s sending signature gatherers to popular shopping areas to obtain the 500,000-plus signatures it needs to get the measure on [...]

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Obama Signs Debt Bill Into Law, Signals Tax Reform

August 2, 2011

THE SIX-MONTH-long crisis over US debt ended yesterday when President Barack Obama signed into law a Bill raising the debt ceiling by $900 billion, just hours before the US would have defaulted on its $14.3 trillion debt.
There was little enthusiasm for the deal among US congressmen. The Senate nonetheless passed the Bill by a vote [...]

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