Tax

The Obama administration released its fiscal year 2017 budget containing a number of tax increases on high-income taxpayers, oil and foreign income, along with tax breaks for the middle class and small businesses, plus a provision giving the Treasury Department the explicit authority to regulate all paid tax preparers.

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.

I have always loved accounting and tax season, but I have worked with many people who did not.

The Internal Revenue Service still hasn’t said what caused some of its systems to shut down last Wednesday, but the agency’s processing functions—including e-filing—were restored by last Thursday evening.

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

Tax pros and their clients are putting themselves at risk, because e-mail is not secure.

A roundup of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

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.