Tax planning

With average tax refunds up nearly 10 percent this year, the White House has launched an online interactive Tax Savings Tool to help taxpayers take advantage of Recovery Act tax credits.

The House has approved health care reform legislation after a tense series of negotiations that left the vote in doubt until a group of pro-life Democrats agreed to support the bill after receiving assurances that President Obama would issue an executive order prohibiting federal funding of abortions.

The jobs bill signed by President Obama on Thursday includes various revenue-raising provisions that would put foreign financial institutions with U.S. taxpayers under a new reporting and tax regime.

The House Ways and Means Committee has approved legislation to provide tax relief to small businesses and extend financing measures for creating jobs.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich., has unveiled a draft of a new bill that would provide tax incentives to small businesses to spur job creation.

April 15 is normally referred to as Tax Day, but one man wants to change that.

Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., has introduced legislation to encourage small business investment and job creation by expanding the research and development tax credit.

OBAMA PROPOSES SMALL-BIZ TAX CUT

Despite its significant tax increases, President Obama's 2011 $3.8 trillion budget plan contains a number of revenue provisions calculated to encourage business expansion and move the economy upward.

Amazon.com has cut off its affiliates in Colorado in response to a new law that requires Web retailers to send a statement to their customers every year of how much tax they should be paying on their purchases.

The Congressional Budget Office has released an estimate of the budgetary effects of President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 and found that some of the tax cuts could add another $3 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

IMGCAP(1)]To gather information for law enforcement, particularly drugs and organized crime, Congress has long required U.S. persons owning or having signatory authority over foreign financial accounts to file a report with the Department of the Treasury disclosing information about the accounts.

Senate Democrats have introduced legislation to extend unemployment benefits, a 65 percent subsidy for COBRA health insurance for the unemployed, and a large set of tax breaks that expired at the end of last year.

The Senate’s latest stimulus effort, a “jobs bill” named the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, passed this week with a 70 to 28 margin.

Liberty Tax Service has reported a 10.2 percent increase in the total number of tax returns filed as of Feb. 15, 2010, and a 28.1 percent increase in revenue generated, a marked contrast with rival H&R Block.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing to discuss trade and tax issues relating to small business job creation.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., have introduced legislation to eliminate many of the exemptions, deductions, credits and other tax breaks in the Tax Code.

Lacking Congress’ ability to address problems with deficit spending, financially squeezed state legislatures across the country are considering desperate tax increases that would have been politically unthinkable just a few years ago.

The Senate approved a job creation bill Wednesday after 13 Republicans agreed to vote for the measure, which includes tax breaks for businesses that hire or retain employees.

The White House has published the health care reform package that President Obama plans to present to Republican and Democratic congressional leaders at the summit on Thursday.