If you are self-employed and work at home — even just part-time — you may claim a tax deduction for expenses related to your home office. Alas, if you’re an employee who has been working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that amazing home office deduction you’ve heard so much about does not apply.
Taxes
This spring, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to announce a national ban on menthol-flavored cigarettes and cigars with a characterizing flavor, an attempt to limit tobacco consumption, and, as a result, improve public health. But given the high level of taxation on tobacco products (on average, excise taxes alone make
Have you ever considered gold as an investment? Or maybe just as a hobby? In the days of instant online stock trading and financial accounts, sometimes money seems almost make-believe. Many of us no longer see our money as a tangible object. That’s why there’s something very satisfying and solid about investing in and wanting
There are many similarities between being self-employed and being a small business owner. Both allow you to be your own boss, for one thing! But in the eyes of the IRS, your formal business classification can mean very different things when it comes to filing your taxes and reporting your business income. Here’s how to
The global minimum tax has upended many conversations about international tax policy, including in the United States. The goal of the policy is to set a worldwide 15 percent minimum effective tax rate on corporate profits and enforce it through a set of interconnected rules. If enough countries adopt those rules, then even those that
In the coming weeks, we will break down our 2022 State Business Tax Climate Index, released in December, with maps illustrating each of the five major components of the Index: corporate taxes, individual income taxes, sales and excise taxes, property and wealth taxes, and unemployment insurance taxes. Today we look at states’ rankings on the corporate tax component, which accounts
One of the greatest challenges of lawmaking is recognizing when a beautiful theory must succumb to an ugly fact. The purity of conceptual policymaking must take the real world into account and acknowledge that things that work well “in theory” sometimes fail spectacularly to meet expectations “in practice.” It would be wonderful if a policy
Can’t impersonate guilt; Breakthrough busted; married lawyers plead; and other highlights of recent tax cases. Tampa, Fla.: Brenda Dozier, 54, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. From July through at least November 2015, Dozier laundered money that had been extorted from U.S. residents by conspirators residing in the States and overseas. India-based
The year’s worst ideas; cyber-currency phrase book; the shutdown and taxes; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers. The winners are… Tax Vox (http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): The top Lump of Coal Awards for the Worst Tax Idea of 2018, including New Hampshire’s fighting collecting sales taxes; Seattle’s “head tax” on large employers and Sen. Bernie Sanders’s
Stat scam; shopping center switcheroo; what a pain; and other highlights of recent tax cases. Houston: Jonathan Adam Van Pelt, former owner of a local staffing company, has admitted he willfully failed to account for and pay federal employment taxes. Van Pelt withheld federal income taxes and Social Security and Medicare taxes from the wages
Pre-season checklist; whether carbon taxes; best Twitter bets; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers. In with the new Tax Foundation (https://taxfoundation.org/blog): Our favorite opening of the week: “Champagne will flow, ‘Auld Lang Syne’ will be sung, resolutions will be made (and soon forgot, and never brought to mind), and, in a handful of
You may have heard about new tax reporting rules for businesses using third-party payment apps such as PayPal, Cash App, Venmo, Zelle, etc. This has caused some confusion for app users, but we’re here to help you understand how it will (or won’t) affect your taxes next year. What’s changed? Until this year, payment platforms