Tax Refunds & Advice

Do you stay up to date on the most recent tax news? If not, you should start doing so. Even if you are an average, everyday person you need to know what is going on in this area. There are times when new bills are passed that may effect your tax situation. For instance, how did you learn about the economic stimulus package? This is something that you definitely wanted to hear about early on to ensure that you were in line to receive a check.

There are many ways to stay current. First and foremost, you can watch the news. In most cases, a worldwide station, such as CNN, will offer more tax news than local channels. That being said, you should watch and take in as much information as you can.

If you spend most of your time online, there are plenty of sites that can keep you up to date. This includes blogs, such as this one, as well as news sites and those that focus only on taxes, the IRS, etc.

Believe it or not, you can learn a lot about yourself by staying up to date with breaking tax news. There are sure to be stories that do not pertain to you, but in the long run any knowledge is better than none at all.

All in all, don’t get caught paying your taxes and ignoring everything else. You never know when the latest tax news is going to pertain to your situation or affect the way that you make decisions with your money.

The Senate voted 93-2 to pass a bill which will provide tax breaks to individuals and businesses totaling more than $100 billion. Tax breaks will be provided for renewable energy, while also holding back the alternative minimum tax from reaching millions of taxpayers this year. Additionally, it also extends several business tax provisions that were set to expire.

Harry Reid (D., Nev.), Senate Majority Leader, asked the House not to make any changes to the version of the legislation set forth in the Senate. Reid said, “Don’t send us back something else. We can’t get it passed.” He added, “If they try to mess with our package, it will come back here, it will die, and we…will have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.”

On the other side of things, Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), House Majority Leader, said the House would vote on the tax bill but one “that does not add to the national debt.”

With all of this in mind, the AMT provision is one area on which both sides agree. If Congress does not step in approximately 26 million people will owe additional money in taxes. This is a huge increase when compared to the four million from last year.

For businesses, the bill will extend the research and development tax credit. Additionally, a provision geared towards multinational financial-services firms would allow foreign branches to defer paying United States taxes. 

It will be interesting to see if the tax break package moves forward in this capacity, or if major changes are made.

John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, has outlined his plan on cutting taxes while also touching on how this will benefit both individuals and small businesses.

A story on CNNmoney.com details the moves that McCain plans on making if he wins the White House in November:

McCain promised to “sign into law a reform to permit the first-year expensing of new equipment and technology.” He also vowed to keep capital gains taxes low “so that businesses like yours can expand and create jobs instead of just sending more of your earnings to the government.”

McCain also has big plans for reducing the corporate tax rate. Right now, this rate is the second highest in the world. The senator wants this rate to instead be on par with prominent trading partners, which he feels will allow the United States to keep more “businesses and jobs in the country”

While speaking of his proposed plan, McCain also took the time to lash out against Democratic candidate Barack Obama. “Will we enact the single largest tax increase since the Second World War as my opponent proposes, or will we keep taxes low for families and employers,” he said.

As the days go by and the November election closes in, both McCain and Obama will be trading barbs over future taxes, health insurance, the war in Iraq, and many other sticking points. For now, McCain seems to be appealing to a large group of voters as far as his proposed tax plans are concerned.