Income Tax

An income tax preparer in the Miami, Florida suburb of Plantation has pleaded guilty to filing $22 million in false refund claims with the federal government.

Internal Revenue Service investigators have charged a Northeast Portland woman of filing as many as 173 fraudulent tax returns claiming more than a $1 million in refunds.

It’s a common practice during the summer: After a spring cleaning, people try to sell the household items they no longer need or want in a “garage sale” (known as a “lawn sale, “tag sale” or some other name in parts of the country). But what do they do with those items that are left over at the end of the day? Instead of simply discarding them, they may be able to donate them to charity and take a tax deduction for their troubles.

The ITC is not simply a deduction, explained Parker. It is a tax credit good for up to 30% of the cost of the project, and is often an incentive that can only be enjoyed by entities with substantial passive income and a large tax appetite. Passive losses can only be offset by passive income.

Congress keeps threatening to close some of the long-standing loopholes in the tax law. But one key tax break for business people has remained on the books despite numerous efforts to repeal it. It’s the special tax provision for certain heavy-duty vehicles.

At $10.74 an hour, San Francisco already has the nation's highest big city minimum wage. But it could soon have company, as labor and community activists in cities from Richmond to Sunnyvale push wage increases that could turn the Bay Area into a high-wage hub.

The Internal Revenue Service says that more than 150,000 taxpayers used its new web-based system IRS Direct Pay to pay their tax bills or make estimated tax payments directly from checking or savings accounts without any fees or pre-registration.

Tax experts from the Philadelphia LGBT practice of Marcum LLP advise that Tuesday's court ruling overturning the ban on same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania opens up important planning opportunities for these families. Marcum is the first national accounting firm with a practice dedicated to tax and estate planning for same-sex couples.