Interest.com: “There are many ways to get your taxes done. You want the one that allows you to file as cheaply and easily as possible without missing any money-saving deductions or credits. With that in mind, here’s how to choose among the four major options:”
Tax Foundation: “Newly released data from the IRS clearly debunks the conventional Beltway rhetoric that the ‘rich’ are not paying their fair share of taxes. Indeed, the IRS data shows that in 2007—the most recent data available—the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 40.4 percent of the total income taxes collected by the federal government. This is the highest percentage in modern history. By contrast, the top 1 percent paid 24.8 percent of the income tax burden in 1987, the year following the 1986 tax reform act. Remarkably, the share of the tax burden borne by the top 1 percent now exceeds the share paid by the bottom 95 percent of taxpayers combined. In 2007, the bottom 95 percent paid 39.4 percent of the income tax burden. This is down from the 58 percent of the total income tax burden they paid twenty years ago.”
To put this in perspective, the top 1 percent is comprised of just 1.4 million taxpayers and they pay a larger share of the income tax burden now than the bottom 134 million taxpayers combined.
Read the new Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact or view the data.
The Blog of Legal Times: “Your chances of winning a fight with the IRS are about as great as your chances when fighting City Hall. National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, in her recently-released annual report to Congress, listed the 10 tax issues most litigated in the federal courts. Of the 923 cases involving those issues, taxpayers prevailed in whole, or in part, in 132, or roughly 14 percent. Taxpayers who were represented by counsel did somewhat better when the numbers were broken down—they won 20 percent, or 54 of 265 cases; pro se taxpayers prevailed in 12 percent, or 78 of 658 cases.”
Journal of Accoutancy: “The ringing in of the new year at midnight on Dec. 31 also signaled the expiration of several tax provisions. The biggest was the estate and generation-skipping tax regime, which is repealed for 2010. Various bills have been introduced that would revive the estate tax in its 2009 form, but as of Jan. 1 no extension has been enacted, and the estate and generation-skipping taxes, at least temporarily, no longer exist. In addition, a number of temporary tax provisions, often referred to as “extenders,” have expired as of Jan. 1. They include tax credits, deductions and various tax incentives. Many of the provisions have been extended several times in the past, and a bill to extend them again is pending in Congress (HR 4213). It passed the House on Dec. 9, 2009, and has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee.”
Wall St. Journal: “Happy New Year. Your tax bill just went way up. When the clock hit midnight on Jan. 1, some 70 new taxes on the middle class and small businesses went into effect, thanks to Congress’s failure to prevent the expiration of popular and economically vital tax breaks on time. So some 25 million middle class Americans are now slated to get hit with the alternative minimum tax (AMT) this year. Remember: This is the tax that was originally supposed to only hit the richest 100 Americans.”