A decades-long tax fraud scheme in the Bronx has come to an end. Rafael Alvarez, a 61-year-old New York tax preparer, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and steal government funds and aiding and assisting in preparing a false and fraudulent tax return. Alvarez’ crimes are alleged to have cost the government $145 million. Alvarez was charged on superseding information. Generally, being charged on information means that a defendant has agreed to plead guilty and waived the right to an indictment—that’s what appears to have happened here. Initially, however, Alvarez was charged with an indictment on April…

Shortly after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his Democratic counterparts announced a bipartisan deal to prevent a government shutdown at midnight on Saturday, the MAGA movement tore it apart and sent the federal government hurtling towards a holiday shutdown. Although many far-right Republicans grumbled from the get-go, Johnson’s problem really began when billionaire Elon Musk launched into a thread on the social media app formerly known as Twitter excoriating the details of the bill. Although there were many provisions of questionable merit attached to the continuing resolution that would keep the government operating until next March, Musk’s thread was…

Representative Darin LaHood just introduced the “Residence-Based Taxation for Americans Abroad Act” on December 18, marking a potentially transformative moment for Americans living overseas. This bill aims to overhaul the United States’ unique system of citizenship-based taxation—a regime that taxes citizens on their worldwide income regardless of where they live—and replace it with a residency-based system. If enacted, this change could significantly alleviate the compliance burdens that expatriates have endured for decades. The Current U.S. Tax System: A Global Outlier For those unfamiliar with the intricacies of the U.S. tax regime, the current framework is an anomaly in the global…

A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has ruled that a nationwide preliminary injunction barring FinCEN from enforcing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) will stand while the government’s appeal winds its way through the court system. The government’s request followed Judge Amos Mazzant’s December 3 ruling that the CTA was unconstitutional. Initial Ruling In Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc., et al. v. Garland, et al., Judge Mazzant, an Obama appointee, granted the request of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) for a preliminary injunction, blocking the U.S. Department of Treasury from enforcing the…

In this episode of Tax Notes Talk, Tony Santiago, founder and president of TaxSearch Inc., discusses the future of tax leadership and his recommendations for tax departments looking to create an effective succession plan. Tax Notes Talk is a podcast produced by Tax Notes. This transcript has been edited for clarity. David D. Stewart: Welcome to the podcast. I’m David Stewart, editor in chief of Tax Notes Today International. This week: securing the future. We’ve previously talked about the tax field being in a period of transition and what skills younger practitioners need to succeed, which you’ll find linked to…

As the clock continues to tick down, Congressional leaders have finally released the text of a proposed funding measure to keep the lights on. As expected, it’s a short-term bill intended to fund the government through March 14, 2025. Without any action by Friday, December 20, 2024, funding will run out for several government agencies. Don’t be fooled by the “short” in the phrase “short-term”: the bill runs 1,547 pages long. (By contrast, the September 25, 2024, continuing resolution, which extended funding through December 20, 2024, was just 21 pages.) Key Provisions The bill is chockfull of programs and tweaks.…

The election results certainly bring a new day when it comes to taxes – especially for small and medium businesses. In particular, the election will end the log-jam that has held up providing relief from the amortization requirements for research expenses that took effect in 2022 – and bring back the long-time traditional policy of allowing immediate expensing of research costs. The amortization of research expenses was included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017 as a payfor. It was the odd provision that no member of Congress supported and was never intended to go into effect.…

Donald Trump’s second-term success depends on his getting a substantive tax cut bill passed—and quickly. A sluggish and inflation-scarred economy was the biggest factor in sinking the Democrats in November. That fact should spur Republicans to push through a huge tax reduction in 2025 as fast as possible. President Trump’s 2017 tax bill expires at the end of next year. Not renewing it—and, indeed, enhancing it with more tax cuts—would seriously damage the economy going into the 2026 congressional elections, giving democrats a decisive advantage. Democrats in control of both the House and the Senate would be hell for the…

With about a week to go before Christmas—and a shutdown looming—Congress was back to work this week. Despite negotiations, the House and the Senate have still not reached an agreement on spending. Without a vote by Friday, December 20, funding will run out for several government agencies. That’s a tall order, considering that the House has not yet released the text of a spending bill. At this point, the goal isn’t an actual budget for the year, but rather an agreement to keep kicking the can down the road. Reportedly, the plan is to get a spending package together that…

President-elect Donald Trump’s personnel choices, public comments by him and his choices for key administration positions, and a second-term agenda laid out by conservative think tanks with deep ties to Trump all point to hard times for the IRS. But the consequences may go beyond the agency itself. A bigger worry is that labeling the IRS as part of the “deep state” and limiting its ability to administer the revenue code by sharply curtailing its budget could threaten voluntary tax compliance. What Trump And Allies Say Eight years ago, as a presidential candidate, Donald Trump said that not paying income…