Ken Berry, JD

Tax reform is back in on the table. On February 26, 2014, U.S. Representative Dave Camp (Rep.-Mich.), the chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, released a much-anticipated draft of a major tax overhaul. Camp’s proposed reforms, which were three years in the making, reflect bipartisan efforts to simplify the tax code and provide equality to taxpayers.

With about a month to go before the open enrollment period for Obamacare ends – the official deadline is March 31, 2014 – the federal government continues to tweak the rules for the landmark healthcare legislation.

According to a new report prepared on behalf of the Urban Institute for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the impetus for covering more taxpayers under Obamacare could come from an intriguing source: Tax return preparers.

According to a new federal court of appeals case, the IRS doesn’t have the authority to regulate tax return preparers who routinely file returns on behalf of taxpayers.

The recent decision to postpone the employer mandate to provide affordable health care coverage to full-time employees under Obamacare (the “play or pay rules”) is welcome news to certain mid-sized companies.

Under the federal income tax law – specifically, Section 408(d)(3)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code – a taxpayer can roll over funds from one IRA to another only once a year.

A new simplified method devised by the IRS for claiming home office deductions is much faster and easier to use than the unwieldy traditional method.

Between Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 and FY 2013, the IRS has averaged approximately 3,500 criminal referrals a year, a staggering 38.4% increase from the years in which George W. Bush inhabited the White House.

New final regulations issued on February 10, 2014 by the Treasury Department have postponed the employer mandate another year – until January 1, 2016 – for certain mid-sized employers.

In the wake of a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) assessing the impact of Obamacare on employment, Republicans in Congress are renewing some objections to the controversial legislation and modifying others.

The specter of the dreaded new surtax on “net investment income” (NII) has turned into reality. For the first time ever, some upper-income taxpayers will have to pay the 3.8% surtax on their 2013 income tax returns. This could be a harrowing experience for some of your clients.

President Obama didn’t drop any bombshells in his State of the Union address delivered on January 28. But he did unveil a new retirement-saving concept called the “MyRA” (a wordplay on IRA). As the president explained, this account will be designed to encourage retirement savings by workers who don’t have access to employer plans like 401(k)s. It is hoped that the MyRA can help bridge the gap facing millions of Americans who haven’t set aside enough for retirement. But will it turn into a dud?