President Obama signed two trade bills into law on June 29 that include various tax provisions. The focus of the trade bills is mostly foreign competition and domestic jobs, but they contain new rules for claiming higher education tax credits, new fees for failing to file information returns, new retirement withdrawal rules for public safety workers,...

In a highly anticipated decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that certain residents of Maryland are double-taxed on income earned in other states because the state doesn’t provide a full credit for the taxes paid on that income. Accordingly, the state’s tax structure violates interstate commerce law and was found to be unconstitutional. The high...

IRS regulations specifically allow you to use the federal income tax home-sale gain exclusion privilege to shelter profit from selling vacant land adjacent to your house — even if the land sale occurs in one or more transactions that are completely separate from the sale of your house. Although this sounds too good to be true, it...

Gambling remains an ever-popular U.S. pastime. But it’s more than just fun and games — gambling can also have serious tax implications. Here are the most important issues involving the federal tax treatment of an amateur gambler’s winnings, losses and gambling-related expenses, along with information on a recent favorable development from the IRS. Report Winnings in...

Getting that first part-time job can be an exciting time for your teen-aged children.  I get quite a few questions from tax clients about their dependent children starting their first job, ie – how should they fill out their W-4 forms, do they need to file a tax return, etc. In many cases, the dependent...

The last thing anyone wants on April 15th is a big surprise in the form of a balance due on their individual income tax return.  To guard against this occurrence there are several steps that an individual can take to ensure that when they sit down with their CPA – the resulting outcome is in...