Changing rules have led to taxpayer confusion. We asked accountants and other specialists to help sort it all out.
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For only the second time, Americans must cope with the new set of rules that sprang from the tax overhaul enacted by Congress in 2017. Many people are still adjusting to the law's quirks, while puzzling over other legislative changes that came at the end of 2019.
With April 15 bearing down, we asked tax professionals across the country to share the questions that are most bedeviling their clients. Here's what they said.
Other things to check out:
Volunteers needed for AARP program to help poor, elderly with taxes
The national program started in 1968, with four volunteers at a single site. Last year, about 35,000 volunteers nationwide prepared taxes for more than 2.5 million people (in about 5,000 locations).
The free service isn't restricted to seniors — it is available for any people who can't afford professional preparation services.
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Kathy Roller, who has helped prepare Jefferson City-area residents' taxes through the program for six consecutive years, said a variety of folks volunteer to help.
How Democrats Would Raise Taxes on the Rich - The New York Times
Investment income of the wealthy is a target that unifies leading presidential candidates and top Democrats in Congress.
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How high those taxes would go, and how many Americans would need to pay them, would depend heavily on which Democrat won the White House.
In recent decades, relatively low taxes on capital gains have contributed to widening inequality, by allowing wealthy Americans who draw substantial income from such profits to pay lower effective federal tax rates than some workers who earn far less money entirely through their labor. In effect, the difference in rates helps the rich get richer, because their invested wealth can grow faster over time.
Denver Property Taxes Could Close First Quiznos – CBS Denver
DENVER (CBS4) – The landlord of the first Quiznos location in Denver says high property taxes are the reason the store is branded as “unsustainable.” BusinessDen reports the lot’s value has grown to $1.2 million.
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That’s a 160% increase since the sandwich shop opened in 1981 at 13th Avenue and Grant Street. However, the property taxes have more than doubled.
In case you are keeping track:
IRS data show progressive plans require huge middle-class tax hikes
Last week, the IRS released its annual Statistics of Income . This much-anticipated document is exactly what it sounds like: a thorough analysis of taxpayers' incomes and payments to the IRS, this time for 2018.
Each year, these numbers are illuminating for a number of reasons. For one thing, they show the progression of tax payments over time. For example, revenues have continued to rise since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act lowered income tax rates for everyone. And the number of filers taking the mortgage interest deduction plummeted from 33 million in 2017 to just 13 million in 2018, as more taxpayers took advantage of the new and far more generous standard deduction.
Here's why you shouldn't celebrate that big tax refund
The IRS had doled out 45.5 million refunds as of Feb. 28, with the average refund check totaling $3,064. That amount is just $4 less than last year's average refund.
Filers have reasons to celebrate their small windfall. Most have ambitious plans for their small windfall, including shoring up their savings and paying off debt.
Here's the downside of getting a large check from the IRS: It means you voluntarily overpaid the taxman last year.
Bernie Sanders's Tax Plan Would Be Biggest Expansion of Taxation Since World War II - WSJ
WASHINGTON—Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is trying to expand federal taxation on a scale not seen since World War II, pursuing policies that would end the nation's run as one of the industrialized world's lowest-taxed countries.
Marijuana entrepreneurs flock to Bible Belt for low taxes | Northwest Herald
Jessica, with wavy hair that falls halfway down her back, is a practicing herbalist, acupuncturist and aromatherapist who teaches classes on the health benefits of cannabis. Scruffy-bearded Chip wears a jacket with a prominent "grower" patch and hosts a marijuana podcast called "The Real Dirt." They started their pot business in rugged Humboldt County when it was the thriving epicenter of marijuana cultivation.
But the couple bid goodbye to the weed-friendly West and moved somewhere that might seem like the last place they would end up – Oklahoma.
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