One of the most basic estate planning technique for someone likely to have a taxable estate is regular annual exclusion gifts. That’s the amount you can give to each person without it counting against your unified credit. In 2023 the amount is $17,000. You can give $17,000 to each of…

Are tax troubles on your mind? It’s National Get Out Of the Doghouse Day. Why not take advantage of the opportunity to clean up your finances and resolve your tax issue? Getting started now will help get you out of the doghouse with Uncle Sam (and potentially, your spouse, business…

The IRS announced today that it is reopening previously closed taxpayer assistance centers (TACs), adding additional TACs, and starting a series of Community Assistance Visits to assist taxpayers in areas where the closest TAC is prohibitively far away. Funding from the Inflation Reduction Act provided the means for the IRS…

An international tax advisor has been re-arrested and charged for his role in a conspiracy to engage in tax fraud for over seven years. Frank Butselaar, a citizen of the Netherlands, was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and five counts of aiding and abetting the…

Most high profile and widely reported tax charges involve felonies, but not all of them. And sometimes prosecutors go for felony convictions but fall short. As has been widely reported, Hunter Biden only ended up with misdemeanor charges, to which he plead guilty. These days, few people talk about or…

Two Tax Court decisions last month emphasize the wisdom of keeping separate accounts for your losing side gig. Donald Swanson had a charter fishing business. Susan & James Mercier played slots. In neither case were they able to establish that their activities were businesslike enough to avoid the curse of…

Victims of flooding in Vermont now have until November 15, 2023 to file individual and business tax returns and to pay any taxes that were originally due between July 9, 2023 and November 15, 2023. The specific relief postpones the filing deadline for any returns with deadlines starting on July…

Millions of taxpayers’ personal information was shared by popular online tax filing services to Meta, Google, and other Big Tech firms, according to the results of a recent congressional investigation. The probe was opened by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Bernie Sanders…

When Aretha Franklin—the Queen of Soul—died in 2018, it was widely reported that the singer had no will. Don Wilson, a Los Angeles lawyer who worked for Franklin for nearly 30 years, told The Guardian, “I tried to convince her that she should do not just a will but a…

Professors Kathleen DeLaney Thomas and Erin Scharff discuss fake tax news and the effect it has on public policy. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. David D. Stewart: Welcome to the podcast. I’m David Stewart, editor in chief of Tax Notes Today International. This week: unbelievable. The…