Tax Break

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

 * Law on tax changes is struck down in Washington State. Kirk Johnson – The New York Times. A voter-approved referendum restricting the Legislature’s ability to raise taxes is unconstitutional, Washington State’s highest court ruled on Thursday. Link

* Britons shun companies over tax avoidance. Vanessa Houlder – The Financial Times. A third of Britons are boycotting companies that do not pay their “fair share” of tax in the UK, according to a survey by a charity that described the findings as “a wake-up call to all business”. Link  

* Maine Sen. Collins backs tax breaks for offshore wind production. The Associated Press. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is co-sponsoring a bill to boost offshore wind energy generation with tax credits. Link  

* California gasoline excise tax to rise. Kathleen Pender – The San Francisco Chronicle. The statewide excise tax on gasoline will rise by 3.5 cents to 39.5 cents per gallon starting July 1. The California Board of Equalization approved the increase by a 3-2 vote Thursday. Link  

* Switzerland proposes tax evasion crackdown. Christopher Matthews – The Wall Street Journal. The Swiss government has proposed legislation that would extend the reach of money laundering laws to cover tax evasion and would require banks to perform enhanced due diligence to ensure customers’ tax compliance. Link 

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

 * White House counts on G.O.P. to bend on cuts’ effects are felt. Michael Shear – The New York Times. White House strategists say they believe that a constant drip of bad news will emerge in Congressional districts across the country in the weeks ahead, putting Republicans on the defensive for their refusal to raise taxes. Link 

* Dividend recaps set to dwindle in 2013: Moody’s. Maxwell Murphy – The Wall Street Journal. Moody’s Investors Service expects fewer dividend recapitalizations this year compared to 2012, when companies rushed to distribute cash to shareholders ahead of expected tax hikes. Link

 * Poll: Most don’t believe in being a tax cheat. Stephen Ohlemacher – The Washington Post. With tax season in full swing, a newly released poll says an overwhelming majority of adults don’t believe it is ever okay to cheat on their income taxes, with most citing personal integrity as a reason to be truthful. Link

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

* A new European tax on financial transactions is set to go global. Howard Schneider – The Washington Post. The levy is due to take effect next year and will be a significant money-raiser for the 11 nations that have signed on, bringing in an estimated $45 billion annually. Link 

* Institutions to stay alert to signs of tax fraud. Ben DiPietro – The Wall Street Journal. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an advisory Tuesday reminding financial institutions to look for red flags that may indicate instances of identity theft and tax fraud. Link    

  * Newtown fund receives IRS nonprofit status, is ready to write checks. Matthew Sturdevant – The Hartford Courant. The Newtown Memorial Fund Inc. describes itself as a sustainable fund to provide for the immediate and ongoing needs of people affected by the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The group has raised more than $1 million. Link    

U.S. President Barack Obama walks with Jacob Lew in 2012. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

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

* Treasury pick tries to cast his history as right for the job. Jessica Silver-Greenberg – The New York Times. Jacob Lew had a $56,000 investment in the Citigroup fund, leading to questions from Republican senators about whether the investment had been put there to dodge taxes. Link 

* Republican Senator open to tax hike for entitlement-cut deal. Janet Hook – The Wall Street Journal. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina Monday diverged from the Republican party line by saying he would be willing to raise $600 billion in new tax revenue if Democrats would accept major entitlement reforms in a big deficit-reduction package. Link 

* New 1099 forms pressure taxpayers to be honest. This year the form 1099b includes new details that affect tax returns and will force some taxpayers, and their tax advisers, to be more accurate. Link    

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

* Budget impasse signals a shift in GOP’s focus. Jonathan Weisman and Ashley Parker – The New York Times. Republicans, who last month let taxes rise on incomes over $400,000 to avert broader tax increases and the “fiscal cliff,” are now ready to stand their ground, regardless of the military cuts. Link

* Consumers beat expectations despite higher payroll tax. Tim Mullaney – USA Today. When the payroll tax climbed by nearly a third Jan. 1, Upstate New York car dealer Bill Fox thought he would lose business as workers in a cash-strapped area faced skinnier paychecks. It hasn’t worked out that way. Link 

* Laws give break for land preservation. But hurry. Rachel Emma Silverman – The Wall Street Journal. The new tax legislation signed at the beginning of the year renewed generous federal tax breaks for landowners who permanently preserve scenic, environmentally sensitive or historical properties. Link    

Some important tax and accounting events in the week ahead:

Tuesday, Feb. 26

* Board meeting of the Financial Accounting Foundation, overseer of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. 12:30 p.m. ET. Norwalk, Connecticut.

 * The second meeting hosted by the Hamilton Project of the Brookings Institution on the topic of “15 ways to rethink the federal budget.” Includes a session on innovative approaches to tax reform. 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET, Capitol Hilton Hotel. Washington.

Wednesday, Feb. 27 – Friday, March 1

* International Fiscal Association meetings covering FATCA and financial transactions taxes, cross-border transactions and other topics. Waldorf Astoria Hotel. New York.

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

* Payroll tax whacks spending. Shelly Banjo and Annie Gasparro – The Wall Street Journal. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Thursday joined a parade of retailers, restaurants and consumer-goods companies worried about the economic impact of the recently restored federal payroll tax that has left Americans with less money to spend. Link 

* Obama defends ending corporate jet tax break. David Jackson – USA Today. President Obama has long called for ending tax breaks on corporate jets, and found himself defending that position in an interview Wednesday with a television station from Wichita, Kansas – an area where private planes are built. Link

* Why the debate over tax revenue isn’t over. Sean Sullivan – The Washington Post. A poll showed Americans split down the middle on the question of where taxes fit into the question of deficit reduction, with 48 percent saying a mixture of tax increases and spending cuts, while 49 percent said only spending cuts should be used. Link

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

* Rhetoric turns harsh as budget cuts loom. Janet Hook – The Wall Street Journal. Republicans didn’t question Mr. Obama’s assertion that the spending cuts would have a dire effect. They said the plan to avert them should include only spending cuts, not tax increases. Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster, said that the public is viewing the impasse with disgust, but that the president may bear more of the blame for failing to lead the way to a compromise. Link

* Tax executives: Congress won’t revamp business taxes in 2013. John McKinnon – The Wall Street Journal. The survey of 163 tax executives by law firm Miller & Chevalier and the National Foreign Trade Council shows that only a few think that a tax overhaul will be enacted in 2013. Last year, 31 percent of respondents believed Congress would pass a tax revamp in 2013. Link

* Tax tip: Figuring out your stock’s cost basis. Jeff Reeves – USA Today. The tax man is eager to get his share after you cash out an investment win. And unless you want to irritate the Internal Revenue Service, it’s important to accurately report profits each year to the penny. Link

Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairmen of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, testify on Capitol Hill, Nov. 1, 2011.

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

* Simpson and Bowles to offer up new deficit fix. Damian Paletta – The Wall Street Journal. Deficit hawks Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles on Tuesday will propose a detailed plan for rewriting the tax code and implementing deep new spending cuts, hoping to offer a path to compromise for Democrats and Republicans, according to an outline of the plan. Link

* Facebook tax refund sparks outrage, but company did pay taxes. Salvador Rodriguez – The Los Angeles Times. A recent report saying Facebook will receive $429 million in tax refunds has sparked outrage on the Web, given that the company made more than $1 billion in profits in 2012. Link

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

 * Happy Valentine’s Day? Check your taxes first. Laura Saunders – The Wall Street Journal. Being married raises taxes for some couples and lowers them for others. The marriage penalty is especially pronounced for couples earning above $300,000. Link 

* U.S. slams EU’s tax-on-trades plan. Gabriele Steinhauser and Jenny Strausburg – The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. Treasury said it opposes plans by 11 European Union countries to impose a small tax on trades in shares, bonds and derivatives. Link  

* U.S. banks warn over planned EU ‘Tobin tax’. Alex Barker and James Politi – The Financial Times. The European Commission will on Thursday unveil an ambitious plan for an international levy on financial trades to be collected by the eurozone’s biggest economies, raising an estimated 30 billion to 35 billion euros a year. Link