The Key Components Of Tax Planning

While most taxpayers agree that tax reform is necessary for our country the problem they encounter is the difficulty they experience when trying to understand all the political terms used when discussing tax reform. This paper is an attempt to help the taxpayers of our country to better understand the political terminology and gain knowledge about some of the proposals that have been explored.

Once a gain or loss is recognized, a taxpayer must determine how the recognized gain or loss affects the taxpayer’s tax liability. The character depends on a combination of two factors: purpose or use of the asset and holding period. The purpose or use of the asset is important because the law does not treat all assets equally. The general use categories are: (1) trade or business, (2) for the production of income (rental activities), (3) investment, and (4) personal. Based on these criteria, we can categorize an asset into one of three groups: (1) ordinary, (2) capital, or (3) section 1231. Characterizing the gain or loss is important because all gains and losses are not equal. Ordinary gains and losses are taxed at ordinary income rates, regardless of the holding

This course provides an overview of the elements necessary for effective personal financial planning and the opportunity to apply the techniques and strategies essential to this understanding. Primary areas of study include creating and managing a personal budget, understanding and paying taxes, working with financial institutions, wise use of credit cards and consumer loans, financing automobiles and homes, and the use of insurance for protecting one’s family and property.

Thank you for coming to our offices and allowing us to review and discus your concerns regarding your tax questions. I have been assigned to reply to your questions and I have listed my recommendations below. After you both have reviewed these recommendations, please contact me so we can go over any additional questions you may have.

To remove upper income taxpayers from the paying taxes if they invested in long-term investments

Topic Revenue neutrality Controlling the economy Encouraging industries Research and development expenditures Social considerations Earned income credit Charitable contributions Fines and penalties Home ownership Higher education incentives Tax credit versus deduction Alleviating the effect of multiple taxation Double taxation and effect of a credit versus a deduction Wherewithal to pay concept: transfer to

After the passage of the 16th Amendment, the nature and process of taxation changed many times. An author for the Virginia Law Review wrote in 1972, “Developing and maintaining an appropriate tax structure for a nation as economically complex and dynamic as the United States is a mammoth task” (Graetz, p. 1401). Because of this complexity, the nature of the Tax Code would need to be altered to keep up with what the country requires at a given time. Several significant changes have been made to the Tax Code, but none more significant than the passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA 86). TRA 86 was one of the most polarizing changes in tax law and where the current Code gets its name (Spilker et all., 2016, p. 2-11). It brought about more revisions than most people and businesses could keep up with, and it brought to light the deficiencies in implementing amendments to the Code, namely a disturbing lack of awareness from taxpayers of the alterations. Many businesses benefited from the changes—mostly large, well-established firms, but small mom-and-pop stores who have less stake in tax planning suffered (Scholes, Wilson, Wolfson, 1992, p.181). This negative effect would have been avoided if taxpayers had taken precautions and been aware of the impending changes in tax laws and if those changes had been communicated clearly to them.

I hope you are doing well. Recently you contacted me seeking tax planning advice. As you have specified, you are planning to invest in a small business with about a $1 million annual revenue. Specifically, you are seeking advice on minimizing both your personal federal tax liability, and the federal tax liability of the business. I believe there are several different strategies that will result in minimization of your tax liability. I will explain these strategies more fully by focusing on both the small business and personal federal tax

“In the world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.” This well-known quote penned by Benjamin Franklin perfectly sums up the feeling of inevitability felt my most when discussing taxes. Governments provide citizens with needed services, but they cannot do so without money. That fact leads to a question that affects every taxpayer, what is the best method for collecting taxes. Is it better to collect the money based on an individual or business’ income? Is it better to base the tax on how much a person spends through a sales tax? How do the different

With the presidential elections coming up, different tax policies are being debated between the candidates. Whether it is proposed by a Democratic or a Republican presidential candidate, there have been many possible solutions presented on how to reform the current tax code. Focusing specifically on four candidates, two from the Democratic Party, and two from the Republican Party, I will compare and contrast their respective tax proposals. While the Democratic candidates generally agree with President Obama’s current tax code, all four candidates are looking to reform it in some way in order to, in their own eyes, better the current tax code affecting today’s citizens.

The alternative minimum tax (AMT) was created to prevent high income level individuals from using deductions and credits to avoid paying federal income taxes (Tritz, 2015). Due to inflation AMT now spreads to include more individuals beyond the highest-income taxpayers and straying from its original objective. Consequently, AMT has affected the economy by over-complicating the already complex tax code, creating an additional obligation for taxpayers, and burdening more taxpayers than its original intention. This relates to our course content, which includes the calculation of AMT, the differences between AMT and TMT, the differences between AMT and the regular tax rate, and disallowance rules under AMT.

Ever since the ratification of the 16th amendment to the United States Constitution, Americans have faced the burden of federal income taxes. Income taxes were first proposed as a better way of gathering revenue, as well as an effective measure to manipulate economic spending. However, the current tax code bears very little resemblance to the relatively simple codes that were originally written into law. Today’s tax laws have grown astonishingly complex and unequally distributes the burden of tax liabilities. Our country should confront the issues derived from the increasing complexity of the tax laws and equally distribute the obligations to each taxpayer.

The United States tax system is in complete disarray. Republicans and Democrats agree that the current tax code is complex, unfair, and costly. The income tax system is so complex; the IRS publishes 480 tax forms and 280 forms to explain the 480 forms (Armey 1). The main reason the tax system is so complex is because of the special preferences such as deductions and tax credits. Complexity in the current tax system forces Americans to spend 5.4 billion hours complying with the tax code, which is more time than it takes to manufacture every car, truck and van produced in the United States (Armey 1). Time is not the only thing that is lost with the current tax system; Americans also lose

The information that I am currently learning right now in my tax class will help greatly as I

On July 18, the Federal Government announced their intention to restrict certain tax planning strategies available to shareholders of private corporations that they felt unfairly benefit business owners over salary-earning Canadians. The consultation period during which stakeholders were allowed to provide comments on the proposals ended on October 2, 2017. Ottawa’s original proposals were met with widespread criticism from the business community. As a result, during Small Business Week, October 16 - 20, some revisions were announced. The below summarizes the original proposals as well as where we currently stand.