Politte Law Offices, LLC

02/07/2025

In a meeting with Republican lawmakers yesterday, President Trump outlined items he wants to see prioritized in a tax bill this year, including: ending tax levies on tips, Social Security payments, and overtime pay (which is likely to benefit lower-income earners, hourly wage earners, and elderly Americans); enacting tax cuts for American-made products (aimed at promoting domestic manufacturing and generating jobs in America); expanding the state and local tax (SALT) deduction (benefiting individuals who pay more than $10,000 per year in state and local tax and itemize their deductions); ending tax breaks for sports team owners (ending a tax break enacted in 2004 and requiring wealthy sports team owners to pay more tax); and ending the carried interest tax break (ending lower tax rates on earnings of high-earning investment and private equity fund managers and venture capitalists; it is worthwhile to note that Democrats also introduced legislation yesterday ending the carried interest tax break).

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expires at the end of 2025, and it is expected that Congress will be busy this year working out the details for sweeping tax legislation and reform.

12/07/2024

On Dec. 3, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction against the United States government relative to the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) requirement that businesses file Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reports. On Tuesday the court issued an injunction effectively halting the mandatory filing on the premise that it believes the CTA will be found unconstitutional.

In response, FinCEN issued the following statement on its website (at https://fincen.gov/boi):

"In light of a recent federal court order, reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so while the order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.

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The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) plays a vital role in protecting the U.S. and international financial systems, as well as people across the country, from illicit finance threats like terrorist financing, drug trafficking, and money laundering. The CTA levels the playing field for tens of millions of law-abiding small businesses across the United States and makes it harder for bad actors to exploit loopholes in order to gain an unfair advantage.

On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, in the case of Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc., et al. v. Garland, et al., No. 4:24-cv-00478 (E.D. Tex.), a federal district court in the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division, issued an order granting a nationwide preliminary injunction that: (1) enjoins the CTA, including enforcement of that statute and regulations implementing its beneficial ownership information reporting requirements, and, specifically, (2) stays all deadlines to comply with the CTA’s reporting requirements. The Department of Justice, on behalf of the Department of the Treasury, filed a Notice of Appeal on December 5, 2024.

Texas Top Cop Shop is only one of several cases in which plaintiffs have challenged the CTA that are pending before courts around the country. Several district courts have denied requests to enjoin the CTA, ruling in favor of the Department of the Treasury. The government continues to believe—consistent with the conclusions of the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Oregon—that the CTA is constitutional.

While this litigation is ongoing, FinCEN will comply with the order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for as long as it remains in effect. Therefore, reporting companies are not currently required to file their beneficial ownership information with FinCEN and will not be subject to liability if they fail to do so while the preliminary injunction remains in effect. Nevertheless, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports."

11/23/2024

Breaking News: Trump picks Scott Bessent, who currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of macro hedge fund Key Square Group, as Treasury Secretary.

10/15/2024

Here's your friendly reminder that TODAY is the deadline to file you individual income tax returns if you filed an extension in April!

09/16/2024

Estimated tax payments for the third quarter of 2024 are due today: September 16, 2024! Use IRS Form 1040-ES.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf

07/03/2024

If you need to stock up on first-class Forever stamps , make sure you do so in the next 11 days! The price of first-class Forever stamps will increase more than 7% from 68 cents to 73 cents on July 14. Prices for all services will rise more than 7.5%. 📬📮

06/20/2024

Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision which leaves the door open for Congress to enact legislation aimed at taxing individuals on their accumulated "wealth" (i.e., the increase in the value of their personal property, for instance increases in the value of stock held in a retirement account), regardless of whether the individuals sell or receive any money or income relative to their property. In its decision in Moore v. United States, the court ruled 7-2 that Congress's enactment of the mandatory repatriation tax (MRT), which taxes U.S. taxpayers who have ownership interests in foreign companies on the foreign companies' income even though the taxpayers never receive the income and the foreign companies never issued any distributions or dividends to the U.S. taxpayers. The MRT was enacted in 2017 as part of the sweeping changes made by Congress to the U.S. Tax Code, which also included the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

Read the full SCOTUS opinion here:https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-800_jg6o.pdf

06/17/2024

Estimated tax payments for the second quarter of 2024 are due today: June 17, 2024! Use IRS Form 1040-ES.

Information about Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals, including recent updates, related forms, and instructions on how to file. Form 1040-ES is used by persons with income not subject to tax withholding to figure and pay estimated tax. Use this form to figure and pay your estimated tax.

04/15/2024

Happy Tax Day! Individuals who are required to file a 2023 tax return must file their return or an extension today!

Use IRS Form 4868 for extensions (to file):
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4868.pdf

Remember: Filing an extension only extends the filing deadline, not the payment deadline which is also today. So make sure you pay what you will owe toward your 2023 taxes TODAY in order to avoid late-payment penalties and interest later.

01/22/2024

On January 19th, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a bill that proposes to put an end to the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) that was enacted as part of the COVID-19 relief legislation. The current law provides that businesses have until April 2025 to file returns (Forms 941, 941-X, and 944) claiming the ERC. The proposed legislation seeks to stop the program as of January 31, 2024 (just over a week from now). If passed, businesses will not be able to claim the ERC unless they file their returns or amended returns claiming the credit on or before January 31st.

Any businesses that qualify for the ERC but have not filed returns claiming the credit yet should consider filing them ASAP. Lawmakers are hoping that the legislation will be voted on and enacted in the next week, and at present the bill has not been changed with regard to the January 31, 2024 deadline to claim the ERC.

The full text of the bill, which includes expanding the child tax credit and other tax legislation, is available here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7024

Summary of H.R.7024 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024

01/16/2024

Estimated tax payments for the fourth quarter of 2023 are due today: January 16, 2024!
Use IRS Form 1040-ES.

Who must pay estimated taxes, how much to pay and when to pay them.

01/15/2024

Last week, the IRS announced that anyone who filed a Form 1040 (individual income tax return) or Form 1041 (estate or trust tax return) for tax years 2020 and 2021 with balances due (i.e., didn't fully pay their tax) will automatically have late-payment penalties waived if the taxpayer was assessed tax less than $100,000 and they received an initial balance due notice between Feb. 5, 2022 and Dec. 7, 2023.

Jan. 10, 2024 — The IRS will automatically waive failure-to-pay penalties on unpaid taxes less than $100,000 for tax years 2020 or 2021.