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Monthly Archives: September 2016

Time to Compare Candidate's Tax Plans Again!

On July 19, 2016 we posted Time to Compare Candidate's Tax Plans!  where we discussed both the Clinton Tax Plan and the Trump Tax Plan. Now with the first debate on the horizon, we thought it would be a good time to revisit their tax positions.
 
        Clinton Tax Plan

Hillary Clinton proposes raising taxes
on high-income taxpayers, modifying
taxation of multinational corporations, repealing fossil fuel tax incentives, and increasing estate and gift taxes.

  • Her proposals would increase revenue by $1.1 trillion over the next decade.
  • Nearly all of the tax increases would fall on the top 1 percent; the bottom 95 percent of taxpayers would see little or no change in their taxes.
  • Marginal tax rates would increase, reducing incentives to work, save, and invest, and the tax code would become more complex.
  • The analysis does not address a forthcoming proposal to cut taxes for low- and middle-income families.



His plan would significantly reduce marginal tax rates on individuals and businesses, increase standard deduction amounts to nearly four times current levels, and curtail many tax expenditures.  

  • His proposal would cut taxes at all income levels, although the largest benefits, in dollar and percentage terms, would go to the highest-income households. 
  • The plan would reduce federal revenues by $9.5 trillion over its first decade before accounting for added interest costs or considering macroeconomic feedback effects.
  • The plan would improve incentives to work, save, and invest.
  • However, unless it is accompanied by very large spending cuts, it could increase the national debt by nearly 80 percent of gross domestic product by 2036, offsetting some or all of the incentive effects of the tax cuts.

Candidates Differ on Taxing Corporations

The corporate income tax is a major revenue source for the U.S. government, but it has been shrinking for decades, and the three main presidential candidates could not differ more dramatically on what to do about it.

Trump Plan

Donald Trump, the Republicans' nominee for the Nov. 8 election, wants to cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%.

While the Tax Policy Center, a Washington D.C. based tax research group, has said that under Trump's plan, corporate income tax revenues would fall $1.9 trillion from 2016 to 2026, Trump, a real estate developer, described his proposals as revenue neutral, saying that reduced tax rates would be paid for by eliminating some tax breaks and repatriating corporate cash held overseas.

Steven Rosenthal, a Tax Policy Center senior fellow, said Trump's plan is a standard business focused approach, but notes that it was difficult to fully evaluate because the drafting was incomplete.

Clinton Plan
 
Hillary Clinton,  has not promised a corporate tax cut. Like Trump, she has called for closing loopholes that corporations use to avoid taxes.

But unlike Trump, her plan would raise corporate tax revenues by $136 billion over 10 years, the Tax Policy Center said.
 
This fact sheet has been updated to reflect additional Clinton proposals to make sure the wealthiest pay their fair share.Clinton stood side-by-side with Warren Buffett and spoke about the importance of tax fairness.
 
Now, she is offering a plan to build on the “Buffett Rule,” crack down on tax gaming and sheltering, and ensure that the super-wealthy pay their fair share by:

 
  1. Implementing a multi-millionaire “Fair Share Surcharge.” Hillary will call for imposing a 4 percent “Fair Share Surcharge” on the 2 out of every 10,000 taxpayers making more than $5 million per year – who are the most likely to benefit from tax planning. This surcharge is a direct way to ensure that effective rates rise for taxpayers who are avoiding paying their fair share, and that the richest Americans pay an effective rate higher than middle-class families.
  2. Shutting down the “private tax system” for the most fortunate, starting by immediately closing egregious loopholesHillary will call for strengthening the Buffett Rule by broadening the base of income subject to the rule. This means immediately closing egregious loopholes, like the Bermuda reinsurance loophole and the “Romney loophole” that let the most fortunate avoid paying their fair share. That also means closing the “step up in basis” loophole, which lets the highest-income Americans escape paying their fair share on assets passed to heirs.
  3. Restoring fair taxation on multi-million dollar estatesHillary is proposing to restore the Estate Tax to 2009 parameters, which would ensure some of the largest, multi-million dollar estates are not exempt from paying their fair share. And she would go beyond that for estates valued in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. She will also close complex loopholes, including methods that people can now use to make their estates appear to be worth less than they really are. The Estate Tax is a tax on the very largest estates that would only affect 4 out of every 1,000 estates after Clinton’s reforms. 
  4. Ensuring millionaires can no longer pay a lower rate than their secretary. Hillary will reiterate her call for the “Buffett Rule,” which ensures that those making more than $1 million per year pay at least an effective tax rate of 30 percent.

 Have a Tax Problem?
 
Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A.
 for a FREE Tax Consultation Contact US at 
or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888 882-9243).
 

 

 

 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

Your Offshore Confidential Information Is Being Delivered Daily to Tax Authorities – New Leak of Bahamian Offshore Files!

Once again the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the same group that released the now infamous “Panama Papers,” has now released a cache of leaked documents provides names of politicians and others linked to more than 175,000 Bahamian companies registered between 1990 and 2016!

For years, Neelie Kroes traveled Europe as one of the continent’s senior officials, warning big corporations that they couldn’t “run away” from the European Union’s rules. The Dutch politician sympathized with average citizens who worried they’d been left to pay the bills “as infringers cream off the extra profits.”

What Kroes never told audiences and didn’t tell European Commission officials in mandatory disclosures was that she had been listed as a director of an offshore company in the Bahamas, the Caribbean tax haven whose secrecy and tax structures have attracted multinational companies and criminals alike. Kroes was listed as director of a Bahamian company from 2000 to 2009, according to documents reviewed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.  

Details of Kroes’ link to the offshore company are among the numerous revelations found in a new leak of documents, received by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with ICIJ, that disclose details behind companies incorporated in the Bahamas. The cache of 1.3 million files from the island nation’s corporate registry provides names of directors and some owners of more than 175,000 Bahamian companies, trusts and foundations registered between 1990 and early 2016. 

Today ICIJ, Süddeutsche Zeitung and other media partners are making this information available to the public. This creates, for the first time, a free, online and publicly-searchable database of offshore companies set up in the Bahamas.

This information has been combined with data from the Panama Papers and other leaked offshore documents to add additional heft to one of the largest public databases of offshore entities in history.

The new leaked documents include the names of 539 registered agents, corporate middlemen who serve as intermediaries between Bahamian authorities and customers who wish to create an offshore company. Among them is Mossack Fonseca, the law firm whose leaked files formed the basis of the Panama Papers. The firm set up 15,915 entities in the Bahamas, making it Mossack Fonseca’s third busiest jurisdiction. At one point, Bahamian companies were among Mossack Fonseca’s best-sellers.

Beyond Mossack Fonseca and the Panama Papers, the leaked Bahamian files reveal details of the offshore activities of prime ministers, cabinet ministers, princes and convicted felons. It is generally not illegal to own or direct an offshore company, and there are legitimate business reasons in many cases for setting up an offshore structure. But transparency experts say it’s important that public officials disclose their connections to offshore entities.
The political and government figures named in the leaked documents include Colombia’s minister of mines and energy between 1999 and 2001, Carlos Caballero Argáez. He was listed as president and secretary of a Bahamian company, Pavc Properties Inc., between 1997 and 2008. Caballero Argáez also appeared as director of Norway Inc., a company registered in the Bahamas between 1990 and 2015.
 
 

All U.S. Taxpayers with

"Unreported Income" 
From Offshore Accounts
Need To Come Clean NOW before
Their Illegal Activity is Identified! 
 
 
 Want to Know which OVDP Program
is Right for You?

 
Contact the Tax Lawyers at 
Marini& Associates, P.A.  
 
for a FREE Tax Consultation
Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888) 882-9243

 

 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

Did You Know That President Obama Could Obtain Donald Trump's Tax Returns?

In this presidential election, the Republican candidate Donald Trump steadfastly refuses to release his tax returns.this is caused political blogs to  have a lively discussion regarding whether President Obama could request  Donald Trump's tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)?

President Obama could obtain Donald Trump's tax returns under Section 6103g of the Internal Revenue  Code, the President may submit a request for the IRS to provide him (or a designated employee) with "return information with respect to any taxpayer." That request must include "the specific reason why the inspection or disclosure is requested. However, that section of the U.S. Code only authorizes the President to obtain and examine tax returns, not to publicly disclose them.

Have a Tax Problem?

 
 

Let Us Help!

 

Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A.
 for a FREE Tax Consultation Contact US at

or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888 882-9243).
 
 

 

Source:

Snopes

Read more at: Tax Times blog

No More Face to Face Meetings at IRS Appeals Division?

IRS Appeals Division Slashes Taxpayer Rights preview image

Brager Tax Law Group posted that the IRS announced that effective Oct. 1, 2016, it will rarely conduct Appeals Conferences in person. More specifically, Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) 8.6.1.4, blandly entitled “Conference Practices,” provides that ALL conferences will be held by telephone except under certain specific enumerated circumstances. Those circumstances are as follows:

  • There are substantial books and records to review that cannot be easily referenced with page numbers or indices
  • The ATE [that’s Appeals Team Employee, aka Appeals Officer, or Settlement Officer] cannot judge the credibility of the taxpayer’s oral testimony without an in-person conference
  • The taxpayer has special needs (e.g. disability, hearing impairment) that can only be accommodated with an in-person conference
  • There are numerous conference participants (e.g., witnesses) that create a risk of an unauthorized disclosure or breach of confidentiality
  • An alternative conference procedure (e.g., Post Appeals mediation (PAM) or Rapid Appeals Process (RAP)) involving separate caucuses will be used
  • Another IRM section specific to the workstream calls for an in-person conference

The mission of the IRS Appeals Division is to “resolve tax controversies, without litigation, on a basis which is fair and impartial to both the Government and the taxpayer and in a manner that will enhance voluntary compliance and public confidence in the integrity and efficiency of the Service.” Unfortunately, this new policy will not further that mission, and indeed will impede it.

Have a Tax Problem?

 
 

 Let US Help!

 

Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A.
 for a FREE Tax Consultation Contact US at
or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888 882-9243).
 
 

  

 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

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