For tax year 2006, the alternative minimum tax (the dreaded AMT) exemption rises to $62,500 for a married couple filing a joint return and to $42,500 for single persons and heads of household. Don’t get too excited, though, as those amounts are slated to drop in 2007.
Kelly Phillips Erb, known as Taxgirl, is a tax attorney, writer, and speaker who explains taxes, IRS news, financial crime, scams, and the law in plain English.
Last week, hundreds of wealthy Germans had their homes and offices searched in Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Ulm as German officials crack down on what is perceived as massive tax fraud. The German government believes that as much as €3.4 billion ($5 billion US) have been transferred to Liechtenstein in an attempt to evade…
As blogged previously, Obama’s proposed stimulus package is meeting resistance – on both sides of the aisle. Key members of the Senate Finance Committee have criticized plans for a $3,000 tax credit for new hires, citing that it wasn’t the most effective means of promoting employment. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said, “I’d rather spend the…
Retirement plans can be great vehicles for tax deferrals – but they can also be giant headaches when it comes to reporting for tax reasons. This is because there are so many technical rules that the potential for making a mistake is fairly high if you don’t know what you’re doing (taxgirl PSA: your plan…
It’s Fix the Tax Code Friday! Over at Only3Years, Iz contemplated the question of where she might be a year from now. The more I thought about this, the more I thought that it would make a superb Fix the Tax Code Friday… I’m constantly asked what I think will happen with respect to a…
With tax season mostly wrapped up – save for a few hundred thousand returns on extension – spammers and schemers are at it again. In addition to the myriad of “your refund is delayed” type emails that we’ve seen flitting about for months now, there are two new email scams to add to the list….
“Let me get this straight,” I said, looking the taxpayer in the eye. “You want to turn yourself in for cheating on your taxes in order to get your wife in trouble.” He didn’t blink. “Yes,” he said. “She wants the divorce. If she wants my money, she has to pay first.” He paused, then…