Tax Strategies

CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business, has entered into a partnership with Comtax, a provider of international tax planning software, to offer the Comtax System, which helps tax professionals reduce the tax costs of cross-border transactions.

The Senate failed on Saturday to overcome Republican-led opposition to two bills extending the Bush-era tax cuts to taxpayers making less than $250,000 and $1 million a year, prompting leaders to talk Sunday of progress toward a deal extending tax cuts for people at all income levels on a temporary basis, along with unemployment benefits.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has introduced a package of tax cuts for middle-class families after the House passed tax cut legislation Thursday extending the Bush-era tax rates.

House Democrats passed a tax cut package on Thursday aimed at extending the Bush-era tax cuts for taxpayers who earn below $250,000, but the prospects for passage in the Senate will depend on the deal worked out by a bipartisan group of four lawmakers and two Obama administration officials.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich., introduced legislation Wednesday that would extend the Bush-era tax cuts only for those making less than $250,000 a year, and provide a two-year AMT patch.

One promising sign of President Obama’s meeting with congressional leaders Tuesday was that he didn’t emerge with his lip bleeding from a fresh elbow jab in the face.

The Senate voted Monday evening on a competing pair of amendments to repeal the expanded 1099 information reporting requirements that were included in the health care reform bill, but failed for the second time this fall to roll back the controversial requirements.

California’s Franchise Tax Board said it would no longer directly mail tax booklets to taxpayers in the Golden State, as more taxpayers and preparers migrate to electronic filing.

A group of 45 millionaires has signed a letter to President Obama urging him to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire for those earning over $1 million a year.

Warren Buffett said that wealthy people should be paying “a lot more” money in taxes, and that the Bush tax cuts should expire for “people at the high end.”