alliantNational Blog

Here in Washington, D.C. there has not been any significant action by Congress regarding renewing tax extenders or actual steps toward tax reform. The Senate Finance Committee has focused its attention on bipartisan “Working Groups” to seek feedback and input from stakeholders in how to best reform the federal tax code, and this month the…

Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and John Hoeven (R-ND) recently introduced a bill designed to increase infrastructure investment through the expansion of private activity bonds and the creation of a new infrastructure tax credit. The Move America Act of 2015 would grant states the authority to raise up to $180 million in tax exempt bonds and…

Judge Michael Talbot, Chief Judge of the Michigan Court of Claims, recently dismissed 22 cases involving Michigan single business tax (SBT) refund claims under the Multistate Tax Compact (MTC). EMCO Enterprises Inc. v. Dep’t of Treasury, Case No. 12-000152-MT. The plaintiffs sought to reduce their SBT liability by electing to apportion corporate income using the…

On the heels of Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) April 13th presidential announcement, critics have begun to scrutinize both Rubio’s and Jeb Bush’s records and plans to reform the tax code. While both are considered frontrunners to win the Republican nomination for the 2016 presidential race, they differ significantly on their tax policy positions. Even with…

The president is proposing a key change with respect to tax regulations for IRAs and retirement plan accounts. Section 401(a)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code requires individuals to begin making taxable withdrawals from their IRAs or retirement plan accounts on April 1 of the calendar year. The withdrawals follow the later of the calendar year…

The United States Tax Court recently ruled that shareholders of a Nebraska corporation are liable for their share of the corporation’s unpaid taxes. See William Scott Stuart v. Commissioner, 144 T.C. No. 12 (2015). The relevant parties in the case are Little Salt, a Nebraska C corporation, and MidCoast Investments (MidCoast). In June of 2003,…

The U.S. District Court recently ruled that the subject of a third party request could not have his attorney present at a proceeding involving his CPA. The court in U.S. v. Robert McEligot ruled on April 6 that Lawrence Lui’s attorney was not entitled to be present at an IRS summons of his CPA, Robert…

The IRS recently released final regulations excluding restricted stock units (RSUs) from the IRC § 162(m) transition rules. The final regulations exclude compensation paid under an RSU arrangement or a phantom stock arrangement from the transition relief provided by Treas. Reg. § 1.162-27(f). Under § 162(m), a publicly traded corporation may only deduct $1 million…