Tax Break

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* Analysis of Obama’s budget finds a higher tax burden for most Americans. Zachary Goldfarb – The Washington Post. President Obama’s budget would raise taxes mainly on people earning more than $200,000 a year, although earners at nearly every income level would face a somewhat higher tax burden, according to a new nonpartisan analysis. Link

* The incredible shrinking budget deficit. Annie Lowrey – The New York Times. The growing economy is bolstering tax revenue and reducing the need for spending on programs like unemployment insurance. Link

* Hasbro weighing repatriation tax strategies. Maxwell Murphy – The Wall Street Journal. Hasbro Inc. is evaluating tax-efficient repatriation options for its $1.1 billion in overseas cash, executives said on a Monday conference call to discuss the toymaker’s first-quarter results. Link

* With taxes done, keep a lookout for identity thieves. Hayley Tsukayama – The Washington Post. While you may be breathing sighs of relief with the tax day now a week behind us, keep in mind that your tax returns may still return to haunt you. Link 

* Frank McCourt’s tax bill for Dodgers sale: $460 million. Bill Shaikin – The Los Angeles Times. Frank McCourt has paid more than $460 million in state and federal taxes related to the sale of the Dodgers, one of his attorneys said Monday. Link 

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* Restyled as real estate trusts, varied businesses avoid taxes. Nathaniel Popper – The New York Times. A small but growing number of American corporations, operating in businesses as diverse as private prisons, billboards and casinos, are making an aggressive move to reduce — or even eliminate — their federal tax bills. Link    

*  European FTT could cost U.S. funds ‘up to $35 billion.’ Mark Cobley – The Wall Street Journal. Europe’s proposed levy on financial transactions could cost U.S. money market funds up to $35bn, according to the first quantitative analysis of the impact of the tax on the U.S. funds industry. Link    

* Survey: Economists say higher taxes, lower government spending not affecting businesses. The Associated Press. The National Association for Business Economics survey asks how higher taxes and lower government spending effected businesses in the first three months of 2013. Link    

Some important events in the week ahead:

 Monday, April 22

* New York University program on the future of pass-through entity taxation. 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. ET, Furman Hall, NYU. New York.

 Tuesday, April 23

* Internal Revenue Service hearing on proposed regulations providing guidance on large employers’ health insurance coverage responsibilities. 10 a.m. ET, IRS Auditorium. Washington.

* Cory A. Johnson, Senior Litigation Counsel, U.S. DOJ Tax Division is a panelist discussing tax cases at the Court of Federal Claims Barr Association lunch. Noon, offices of Caplin & Drysdale. Washington.

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* Not-so-taxing talk at Verizon. Miriam Gottfried – The Wall Street Journal. Nothing is certain but death and taxes. Yet Verizon Communications seems to think it has a way around the latter. Link 

* Advisers, IRS help on taxes after Boston bombings. Arden Dale – The Wall Street Journal. The IRS has told Boston-area taxpayers they have until July 15 to file 2012 returns and pay taxes that would normally be due on April 15. Link

* On whether the rich pay too little in taxes. Catherine Rampell – The New York Times. The share of the nation’s total tax bill that is paid by the wealthy has been growing — but that’s because the incomes of the wealthy have increased so strikingly, faster than the individual tax rates they face have fallen. Link

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* IRS announces three-month tax extension after attack. Laura Saunders – The Wall Street Journal. The Internal Revenue Service announced a three-month tax filing and payment extension for Boston-area taxpayers following Monday’s explosions during the Boston Marathon. Link    

* The tax implications of starting a business with retirement money. Josh Patrick – The New York Times. Retirement money is being used to finance thousands of businesses, but it has yet to receive the full blessing of either the Internal Revenue Service or the Department of Labor. Link   

* IRS auditors targeting small business owners – but there are ways to protect your company. J.D. Harrison – The Washington Post. A new study used by the Internal Revenue Service to determine its auditing priorities shows small business owners in a handful of metropolitan areas are particularly likely to cheat Uncle Sam. Link    

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* Prosecutors charge Swiss lawyer, banker in tax-evasion case. Reed Albergotti – The Wall Street Journal. In the latest move in their crackdown on overseas tax evasion, federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against a lawyer and a banker from Switzerland and accused them of helping Americans hide assets. Link  

* FATCA emerging as global standard. C.M. Matthews – The Wall Street Journal. If you didn’t report assets held overseas, it’s looking like you may regret it. The United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act appears to be emerging as an international standard. Link  

* Tax plan may provide boost. Sarah Krouse – The Wall Street Journal. Despite the austerity mood in Washington, President Obama’s proposed budget would provide tax relief to some foreign investors, a move the U.S. real-estate industry has been seeking for years. Link  

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

 * Tax filing is slow, but collections rise. John McKinnon – The Wall Street Journal. The fiscal-cliff deal continues to slow tax filing, thanks to changes that required the Internal Revenue Service to delay the tax season’s opening. Link

 * House votes to crack down on tax-delinquent contractors but not individuals. Josh Hicks – The Washington Post. The House on Monday unanimously backed legislation to bar federal funding for contractors that fall behind on taxes but rejected a proposal to prohibit tax-delinquent individuals from working for the federal government. Link 

* UK moves to end extreme tax avoidance. Vanessa Houlder – The Financial Times. Tax planners who exploit defects in poorly drafted laws will fall foul of the new general anti-abuse rule (GAAR), according to guidance issued on Monday that aimed to sweep away the idea that taxation was a “game” in which taxpayers could use their ingenuity to reduce their tax bills by any lawful means. Link 

U.S. Park Police Officer Calvin Covington with his horse Harper mails his income tax returns at a mobile post office in Washington. April 15, 2010. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Some important events in the week ahead:

 Monday, April 15

* 2012 U.S. income tax returns must be post-marked before midnight.

* Urban Institute forum on government-nonprofit relationships and the charitable giving tax deduction. 9:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET, Urban Institute, Washington, D.C.

 Tuesday, April 16

* Internal Revenue Service Acting Commissioner Steven Miller and National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson testify at Senate Finance Committee hearing on tax fraud and identity theft. 10 a.m. ET, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington.

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

*Derivatives-tax plan concerns industry. John D. McKinnon and Siobhan Hughes – The Wall Street Journal. The Obama administration’s proposal this week to change the way some derivatives are taxed signals common ground with Republicans on a potentially difficult and divisive tax issue that could have far-reaching implications for investors. Link

* Ex-KPMG auditor freed on $150,000 bond in tips-for-cash scheme. Emily Flitter – Reuters. U.S. authorities filed criminal and civil charges on Thursday against Scott London, who is accused of passing non-public information about five of KPMG’s clients to a friend. Link

* KPMG says it plans legal action. Michael Rapoport – The Wall Street Journal. KPMG LLP plans to take legal action against Scott London, its ex-partner accused of insider trading, said John Veihmeyer, the Big Four accounting firm’s chairman and chief executive. Link

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

 * Middle class tax hikes loom in Obama proposal despite pledge to avoid them. The Washington Post. President Barack Obama proposed a 2014 budget that, if adopted, would break his promise to avoid any tax increases for middle- and low-income people. Link

 * Fund managers warn on taxes in Obama budget. Stephen Foley and Dan McCrum – The Financial Times. President Barack Obama surprised Wall Street by backing a plan that would force investors to pay tax on unrealized derivatives gains, opening up a new front in his attempt to raise revenues through a reform of the tax code. Link

* Hollande creates a prosecutor for fraud and vows to end tax havens. Steven Erlanger and David Jolly – The New York Times. French President François Hollande on Wednesday announced the creation of a position of special prosecutor to pursue cases of corruption and tax fraud, and vowed to eradicate tax havens “in Europe and the world.” Link