The CARES Act enacted March 27, 2020 included the 2020 recovery rebate for individuals that provided over 160 million adults with $1,200 to help them with financial challenges during the pandemic (see GAO data). The IRS refers to this payment as the Economic Impact Payment (EIP) and as of today (8/1/20) has provided 70 FAQs to help explain it! The provision added Section 6428 to the Internal Revenue Code. I was surprised…

July 15 – the due date for most 2019 filings as well as the first and second quarters of 2020 income tax payments, being just  few days away, we see reminders from the IRS and state tax agencies. The other day I saw a statement that you can get an “automatic” extension from the IRS, I thought I had missed something because I thought you still needed to file a Form 4868. I double-checked…

On May 18, 2020, President Trump was meeting with some restaurant execs and suggested a few tax law changes to help the industry. This included “restore the restaurant deduction to help jobless restaurant workers” He also suggested: “Create an “Explore America” — that’s “Explore,” right?  Explore America tax credit that Americans can use for domestic travel, including visits to restaurants.”On June 22, 2020, Senator McSally (R-AZ) introduced S. 4031, American Tax Rebate and Incentive Program Act (the…

Having been in the taxation and tax policy field for over 30 years, I’ve spent a lot of time studying, researching, speaking, testifying and writing about tax reform.  Since early March 2020 with the COVID administrative and legislative changes and proposals, I can’t recall a busier and more complex time so far as tax changes go.  There have been a lot of changes enacted quickly.  Drafters are doing a great job. Issues easily arise as…

I started this blog 13 years ago today to help promote ideas and discussion on how to improve tax systems by moving them into the 21st century ways of living and doing business and following principles of good tax policy. Despite being 20 years into the 21st century, these topics are still needed as tax system modernization seems to move slowly despite advanced uses of technology in other areas. For example, consider the contact tracing…

I’ll return to COVID-19 tax legislation policy topics soon, but wanted to note an item I noticed a few weeks ago in filing my own return.  In messing around with TurboTax, I discovered that it defaults to preparing a Form 1040-SR if the taxpayer or spouse is age 65 or older. I assume that likely confuses many affected people because they never heard of the form and might think it means they are paying more…