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In this essay, I would like to explore the relationship between the self-employment tax and the tax exclusion of income earned by the U.S. businesses abroad. The self-employment tax is a social security and Medicare tax on net earnings from self-employment. A self-employed U.S. citizen or resident must pay self-employment tax if his net earnings […]
If you are considering whether to buy a new car, it is important to remember that, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the “ARRA”), taxpayers may deduct state and local sales and excise taxes paid on the purchase of new passenger cars, light trucks, motor homes and motorcycles. The deduction is available […]
On December 9, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 4213, the “Tax Extenders Act of 2009.” The bill would extend for one more year more than forty tax provisions that are set to expire at the end of this year, including the research credit and a number of important tax breaks for individuals. […]
The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2010 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2010, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car will be: 50 cents per mile for business miles driven 16.5 […]
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, each United States person must file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (the “FBAR”) with the U.S. Department of Treasury if two conditions apply.
The first condition is that the U.S. person must have either a financial interest in or signature authority (or other comparable authority)over one or more financial accounts in a foreign country. Several clarifications are necessary in order to understand the applicability of this first condition. First, for the purposes of the FBAR, the definition of a “U.S. person” includes U.S. citizens, U.S. residents, and persons in, and doing business in, the United States. “Person” is defined to include not only individuals, but also all forms of business entities, trusts, and estates.