by Linda Beale More on PTINs for previously unregulated tax return preparers After considering the problems caused by incompetent or fraudulent tax return preparers who were not attorneys, accountants or admitted to practice before the IRS as enrolled agents, the IRS released a study in 2010 on tax return preparation with recommendations for regulation of […]
by Linda Beale S&P faces civil charges for mortgage bond ratings The Justice Department’s efforts to reach a settlement with Standard & Poor’s Rating Services about the ratings provided to mortgage bonds leading up to the financial crisis have failed, and it appears that civil charges will be filed by the Justice Department and state […]
by Linda Beale Red state tax “reform” and “economic growth” As most tax practitioners and academics know, Professor Paul Caron maintains a “tax prof blog” that provides timely links to most things tax in major papers, blogs, journals, conferences and the like, as well as announcements and releases from theIRS, Treasury and Congress related to […]
by Linda Beale Dell restructuring–all for a tax advantage? David Cay Johnston writes for Tax Analysts, in Dell’s Multiple Restructurings Aid It in Tax Avoidance (2013), about a global reorganization disclosed by Dell in its January 2007 Form 8-K filed with the SEC: “just before the end of 2006, [Dell] issued more than 475 million […]
by Linda Beale The Netherlands’ role as corporate tax haven a “stain on the nation’s reputation” As Europe, the US, and other countries continue to face sluggish economies in the midst of extraordinarily high corporate profits, substantial accumulation of new wealth in the hands of even fewer people, and inordinate influence of corporatist approaches on […]
by Linda Beale Much of MNEs’ “offshore” (and hence untaxed) cash hoards held onshore The Wall Street Journal, in its editorial pages a great friend to big business and low taxes for same, had a decent front-page article on the corporate hoard of cash designated as “permanently invested offshore”. In fact, much of that cash […]
by Linda Beale Do Good Wall Street Days Translate to Good Days for Most Americans? As usual, there was one of those all-knowing snippets in the news last Friday about what the direction in the stock market meant for the economy. Observing high corporate profits and buoyed by the idea that the GOP might not […]
by Linda Beale McConnell Tossing the Gauntlet on Debt, Taxes and the GOP’s dream of dismantling Social Security and Medicare Pretty much as I predicted, Obama’s failure to go over the fiscal cliff–instead “negotiating” and settling for a half-assed deal that hardly got rid of any of the stupidities of the Bush tax cuts–convinced the […]
by Linda Beale Lew almost official as nominee for Treasury Secretary Media headlines continue to tout Obama’s white male choices for rounding out his ‘new’ cabinet. Latest to the list is that he has offered his Jacob Lew, his current White House Chief of Staff, the post of Treasury Secretary. See, e.g., Obama to tap […]
by Linda Beale Social Security/Medicare vs Corporate Welfare The denouement of the fiscal cliff debate behind us (and not, I regret, with the best results–more on that later) we now face the next stage, in which we can expect the right-side extremists to threaten to hold the government hostage unless spending is cut (meaning, to […]