Tax planning

Some partners in hedge funds, private-equity firms and other businesses organized as so-called pass-throughs would pay a 3.8 percent income tax under President Barack Obama’s 2017 budget request.

Congress’s passage of legislation last December making many expired tax breaks permanent adds an extra measure of certainty for tax preparers helping their clients with tax planning this year.

Our weekly roundup of tax-related investment strategies and news your clients may be thinking about.

A large number of important tax changes go into effect this year. Many were ushered in by the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015, although legislation enacted earlier in 2015 and in 2014 also contributed a fair share. Still other changes are the result of various administrative pronouncements by the IRS.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, along with a group of other Senate Democrats, have introduced legislation to make the Saver's Credit into a refundable tax credit to help more working families and middle-class Americans save for retirement.

The American Institute of CPAs has sent comments to the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department asking for changes in the IRS’s draft Form 8971, Information Regarding Beneficiaries Acquiring Property from a Decedent, and draft instructions.

Our weekly roundup of tax-related investment strategies and news your clients may be thinking about.

Modified extenders may require revised planning to maximize benefits.

Samuel Wyly’s lawyer, fighting a $2.2 billion claim by the Internal Revenue Service, told a skeptical judge that his client’s tax planning was “aggressive but not illegal.”

While the passage of this season’s extenders bill was widely anticipated before the end of 2015, it nevertheless contained some surprises for many observers.