U.S. Senate Committee on Finance Submission in Response to Chair's Request for Recommendations for Tax Reform

Follow the Tax Policy Center's latest research, Billion Dollar Blind Spot, which identified a number of barriers to business growth that impact women-owned firms, Executive-in-Residence Caroline Bruckner submitted her comments to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance.

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Legislative Reversals of Supreme Court Rulings in Bloomberg BNA's Tax Management Real Estate Journal

Donald T. Williamson, Eminent Professor of Taxation, reviews the history of Home Concrete, its legislative reversal, and the implications of the amended statute to taxpayers who may have substantially overstated their basis on property sales. While the amendment to §6501(e)(1) overturning Home Concrete enabled Congress to find additional revenue to fund the nation's highway system, it results in additional compliance and uncertainty that brings into question the wisdom of the change.

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Shortchanged

The last time Congress enacted substantial tax reform-in 1986-only 8.2% of American households owned personal computers. Today, more than 87% of American adults own a mobile phone and on-demand platforms like Uber, Etsy, Lyft, Airbnb, HomeAway, Amazon, and TaskRabbit have become household names by connecting businesses and consumers. Although millions of Americans are engaging in the on-demand platform economy every day as sellers and service providers, the tax compliance challenges this new frontier presents have gone relatively unnoticed.

This report, in keeping with the mission of the Kogod Tax Policy Center to conduct non-partisan research on tax issues specific to small businesses and entrepreneurs, identifies the tax compliance challenges the on-demand economy presents for its small business operators.

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The Kogod Tax Center's Letter Submission to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance - April 2015

In response to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance request for public comments on how to make the U.S. tax code simpler, fairer and more efficient, American University's Kogod School of Business Tax Center announced it is undertaking ground-breaking tax policy research to consider how the tax code can be overhauled to reflect the explosive growth of the "Uber economy" and the people who are driving.

These small business owners are "Emerging Entrepreneurs" that need a tax code and administration system that gives them maximum flexibility to grow their business and enhance their contributions to this dynamic new sector of the American economy.

The letter illustrates some of the problems Emerging Entrepreneurs are facing in the current filing season and urges the Senate Finance Committee to investigate these issues in connection with tax reform.

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Filing Survey in Bloomberg BNA's Daily Tax Report

Bloomberg BNA's Daily Tax Report published the results of Kogod Tax Center's second tax policy survey. Conducted over a month-long period during the 2012 tax return filing season, it sought insights from an audience mostly comprised of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) about issues they are facing this year, such as those related to client relations, practice management, and changing tax laws and IRS rules. View the publication below.