US Federal Tax

Links

The 21st Century Taxation Blog
Policy Approach to Analyzing Tax Systems, compiled by Annette Nellen

Federal Tax Reform and Strategy

• Tax Reform Information a website with background information on major federal tax reforms, links to legislation and state tax commission reports and links to relevant policy reports.
• Modernization Is Needed for Section 197 Intangible Asset Amortization, Bloomberg Tax, 2/24/25
• Let's say 'goodbye' to the April 15 due date, The Hill, op ed 4/17/21
• 3 Questions to Ask When Congress Wants to Change Your Taxes, Barron's, op ed, 3/8/21
• No new taxes for the ultra rich - fix bad tax policy instead, The Hill, 9/15/20
• Repeal the Kiddie Tax, 10/23/19 blog post
• Federal Tax Reform and the Future of §197, Bloomberg BNA Tax Mgmt, 8/21/17
• Form 8332 Challenges for Divorced Couples, AICPA Tax Insider, 10/20/16
• House Republicans Offer "A Better Way" For Taxes, AICPA Tax Insider, 7/28/16
• Transparency for Individual Taxes, AICPA Tax Insider, 4/14/16
• Input for the Senate Finance Committee Working Group on Individual Income Tax, 4/15/15
• Strategy for Major Tax Reform, AICPA Tax Insider, 11/8/07
• Modernizing and Rationalizing Depreciation, California Bar DC Delegation Paper, with Chad Jaben, May 2010
• Comments for Senate Committee on Small Business Tax Reform Roundtable, 7/17/13
• 30 Years After the Tax Reform Act: Still aiming for a better tax system, Journal of Accountancy, Oct 2016, with Jeff Porter, CPA
• Tax reform: Challenges of broadening the tax base, AICPA Tax Insider, 9/17/15
• Highway Trust Fund in the tax reform spotlight, AICPA Tax Insider, 8/13/15
• Tax reform for 2015: One step forward, two steps back?, AICPA Tax Insider, 6/11/15
• To be or not to be compensatory, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 10/23/14
• Blog post of 10/24/14 with tax reform comments about above article topic
• TTINs and protecting taxpayer identities, AICPA Tax Insider, 9/11/14
• Advertising expense and tax reform: How not to broaden the base, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 7/31/14
• What's missing from Camp's tax reform proposal? AICPA Tax Insider, 5/15/14
• Left behind: Expired Individual Tax Provisions, AICPA Tax Insider, 4/10/14
• Real revenue for tax reform, AICPA Tax Insider, 1/16/14
• Clearing a path to a lower corporate tax rate, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 10/31/13
• What are the signs that tax reform will occur during this Congress?, AICPA Tax Insider, 7/11/13
• Budget proposals and the tax system, AICPA Tax Insider, 4/11/13
• Time to move Sec. 7523 budget information into the Digital Age, AICPA Tax Insider, 11/8/12
• Questions about tax reform for the 2012 presidential candidates, AICPA Tax Insider, 10/11/12
• Expiring Provisions by the Numbers, AICPA Tax Insider, 9/13/12
• Pathway to tax reform, AICPA Tax Insider, 8/9/12
• Boosting Opportunities and Growth Through Tax Reform: Helping More Young People Achieve The American Dream - testimony submitted for written record of this 7/10/12 Senate Finance Committee hearing
• Tax Reform Calculations: Helping Clients See Direct Financial Effects, AICPA Tax Insider, 5/10/12
• Client service idea for the 2012 filing season, AICPA Tax Insider, 4/12/12
• Many Questions about the Path to Prosperity, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 4/26/12
• President Obama's Business Tax Reform Plan, AICPA Tax Insider, 3/8/12
• The Rough Road to a 28% Corporate Tax Rate, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 11/10/11
• Pushing for Specifics on Tax Reform Proposals, AICPA Tax Insider, 11/10/11
• Tax Reform: Incentives for Innovation, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 9/29/11
• Testimony before Senate Finance Committee - Tax Reform and Incentives for Innovation, 9/20/11
• Tax Code’s Burdens on Individuals and Families Demonstrate the Need for Comprehensive Tax Reform - written testimony from the AICPA Individual Income Taxation Technical Resource Panel for a 4/13/11 House Ways & Means Committee (I had the opportunity to deliver the testimony!)
• Small Businesses and Tax Reform - written testimony submitted for the 3/3/11 House Ways & Means Committee hearing on this topic
• VAT Lessons for U.S. Tax Reform, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 8/25/11
• The Journey to a Lower Corporate Tax Rate, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 3/24/11
• Rethinking the Income Tax Calculation - A Look At Tax Expenditures, AICPA Tax Insider, 2/10/11
• Can the President's Deficit Commission's Proposals Lead to Corporate Tax Reform?, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 1/27/11
• 2010 — Setting the Stage for a New Tax Era, AICPA Tax Insider, 12/9/10
• Tax Considerations in Deficit Reform, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 12/9/10
• Lessons Learned from the Tax Reform Act of 1986, AICPA Tax Insider, 10/14/10
• Make Room on the Shelf — One More Tax Reform Report, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 9/23/10
• 1099s - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 11/11/10
• Hope versus Opportunity: Higher Education Tax Incentives, AICPA Tax Insider, 7/15/10
• Self-Employment Tax Policy Considerations, AICPA Tax Insider, 6/17/10
• VAT Mania, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 4/29/10
• Demand a Simpler Income Tax, The Press Enterprise, 4/14/10
• Data-Driven Corporate Tax Reform Perspectives, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 3/25/10
• Proposed Tax Changes for Businesses, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 2/25/10
• Transparency and the FY2011 Budget, AICPA Tax Insider, 2/11/2010
• S Corporations, Complexity and the Tax Gap, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 1/28/2010
• Overlooking Tax Policy: A Decade in Review, AICPA Tax Insider, 1/14/2010
• Lowering Corporate Tax Rates, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 12/10/09
• Corporate Tax Under the Microscope, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 1/24/08
• Goodbye State Tax Deduction, AICPA Tax Insider, 5/8/08
• Legislative Leftovers, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 10/23/08 (review of tax reform discussions in 110th Congress and likely outlook for 2009/2010)
• Groundwork for Modernizing International Tax Rules in the US, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 11/13/08
• Remembering Forgotten Tax Issues, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 1/29/09
• Is It Time to Increase the Capital Loss Limitation?, AICPA Tax Insider, 2/12/09
• The International Tax Reform Agenda, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 4/23/09
• A Laundry List of Revenue Options, AICPA Tax Insider, 9/10/09
• The Future of the Corporate Income Tax, AICPA Corporate Taxation Insider, 10/25/07
• President Obama's Tax Reform Task Force chaired by Paul Volcker:
  • Background information
  • Towards Tax Reform, Tax Analyst's collection of 32 commissioned essays with suggestions for the task force, 9/09
    • Strive for a Sound and Respected Tax System - an essay by Annette Nellen
• Policy approach to analyzing tax systems and proposals (Nellen)

AMT

Simplicity and transparency versus the dread AMT, Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, 12/7/07

Penalty Reform

Penalty Reform, AICPA Tax Insider, 11/12/09

Compliance, Guidance, and Paid Preparers

• Categorizing FAQs in the guidance sphere, AICPA The Tax Adviser, 1/1/21
• FAQs: Problems with Informal Guidance from the IRS (2012) by Horwitz and Nellen,
  presented to staff of House Ways & Means, Senate Finance, Joint Committee on Taxation, IRS Chief Counsel, Treasury, as well as to National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson and her staff,
  as part of the California Bar Tax Section DC Delegation activity of May 2012

• National Taxpayer Advocate Office response to a request by Professor Nellen to look into the matter of the use of FAQs rather than binding guidance as a taxpayer rights issue—see 21st Century Taxation blog post of 3/16/11.

• How Heavy is an IRS FAQ?, AICPA Tax Insider, 11/11/10
• Due Diligence Reminders for the 2012 Filing Season, AICPA Tax Insider
  • Part 1 (1/12/12)
  • Part 2 (2/9/11)

IRS and Return Preparers

• IRS website - https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals.
• Letters to preparers about reviewing their practices during filing season, and letters for other purposes - IRS website with links to letters + IRS "Knock and Talk Visits" on EITC

Articles by Professor Nellen about history and issues of regulating preparers

• Blog post (7/24/14) on IRS Voluntary Registration System Released in June 2014, with links to IRS rule and response from practitioner groups
  • Rev. Proc. 81-38 would be repealed per Rev. Proc. 2014-42
• Regulating all return preparers: Back to the drawing board; AICPA Tax Insider, 3/13/14
• Can the IRS regulate all return preparers?, AICPA Tax Insider, 10/17/13
• PTIN - Continuing Sequels, AICPA Tax Insider, 6/9/11
• The Competent Tax-return Preparer, AICPA Tax Insider, 3/10/11 (the link in this article has been removed from the IRS web site, but you can find the original material here)
• Yet More Paid Return Preparer Categories!, AICPA Tax Insider, 1/13/11
• Registered Tax Return Preparers, AICPA Tax Insider, 9/10/10
• Regulating Tax Return Preparers, AICPA Tax Insider, 10/15/09