Fewer Americans Expect to Obtain Refunds for Taxes this Year
Fewer people expect the tax refund financial boost for the year 2013. In an American Express survey, 59 percent of the 1,500 surveyed adults stated that they expect refund for taxes down from 64 percent of the previous year.
Nineteen percent are expected to owe money coming from tax time at the same period compared to only 13 percent in the year 2012. Nearly 30 percent of the respondents who have household income that is higher than $100, 000 stated that they expect owing the IRS for this year.
Chief economist Will McBride of Tax Foundation said that the increasing number of individuals who owe taxes implies that there is an improvement in the economy. He added that people are earning more which means that they receive less from the IRS. Those who are going to owe money, majority of them stated that they will pay with cash from their savings or checking account. Nearly 15 percent expressed they are going to pay with their credit card from 7 percent of 2012.
The refund checks amounting to $2, 700 that are coveted from the previous years must arrive in handy as the consumers are dealing with the small paycheck after the 2-year payroll tax “holiday” had expired this year. Some residents stated that they will enjoy spending the expected taxes refund on a travel. These people have their different point of views and purposes depending on the amount of taxes refund that they received. It is more of the amount that can be received from the government.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax Tags:
Judge announces that Yakama tobacco is subject to federal taxes
There was a ruling be a federal judge in Spokane that could possibly open a Yakama Nation tobacco company to tens of millions of dollars of tax liability.
A United States District Judge, Rosanna Malouf Peterson, mentioned last week that King Mountain Tobacco Company was not exempt from paying federal excise taxes on their cigarettes. There was a case that was filed last year in which prosecutors had claimed that the company owes over $23 million in taxes since the year 2009. King Mountain Tobacco had its own reasoning as to why they didn’t pay.
King Mountain Tobacco Company had mentioned in the argument that the federal law bars taxes on income that comes from trust land, like logging or even tobacco growing. The company had also mentioned the 1855 treaty between the Yakamas and the United States government.
Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson mentioned that only a portion of the tobacco that is sold by King Mountain Tobacco Company is grown on the reservation that is mentioned. A majority of the tobacco that is grown to be sold by the King Mountain Tobacco Company is imported from Virginia. This fact obligates the tobacco company to step up and pay the federal taxes that they owe.
As of now, it is not known whether or not the King Mountain Tobacco Company has a response in the argument, but it is looking like they will have to comply with the judge’s orders.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, Tax Evasion, Tax Law Tags: avoiding taxes, corporate tax, federal income tax, federal tax, federal tax fraud, income tax, tax evasion
Google to face UK parliament a second time on allegations of tax avoidance
Introduction: A second committee grilling on avoidance of taxes is set for Google’s Senior Executives.
Summoning senior executives of Google to face Members of Parliament once again, the Committee on Public Accounts in the UK is set to grill anew the large multinational company on allegations that it had purposely avoided paying taxes to the UK government. Back in November last year, Google Vice-President for Northern Europe Matt Brittin had appeared before the same committee to testify that his company’s sales teams were all situated in Ireland, leaving the company’s UK staff to only perform marketing of Google as an advertising extension. This variation in structure ultimately enabled the company to avoid taxes by paying only £6 million of taxes to the UK government on £2.6 billion it had gotten as profits in 2011. News agency Reuters however, performed investigation that found how Google’s UK-based staff have actually promoted and closed sales of the multinational firm’s advertising space to its clients. The news agency facilitated its investigations through interviews done on several Google customers, aside from working with former Google employees and checking out various job postings and data on the firm’s LinkedIn site. By virtue of the company’s having negotiated and concluded deals in London, the argument that its sales teams were all based in Ireland was indefensible and only constituted avoidance of taxes, since it was clear from invoice addresses that all the people involved are located in the UK. These allegations of avoidance of taxes are serious enough to warrant a second grilling by the MPs and greater depth of investigations into account balances, names and addresses with tax authorities in British overseas territories.
Conclusion: With exhaustive investigation into allegations of avoidance of taxes, a more complicated web of involvement may yet be uncovered.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, Tax Evasion, Tax Law Tags: