IRS to Put an End to Its Top 400 Report

shutterstock_245503636

 

Many people believe that the nation’s wealthiest individuals already make too much money without paying their fair share of taxes. Now that billionaire Donald Trump has been elected as our country’s next president, many expect that to only get worse. However, starting next year, it will now be very difficult for anyone to really know how much of a difference Trump’s new tax policies will make to the nation’s top earners.

That’s because the IRS recently announced that it would no longer continue to release its Top 400 Report, which is an annual statistical report of the top 400 taxpayers in the country, according to adjusted gross income. This year’s report, which for now will be the last, showed just how hard the current president’s tax hikes have hit the wealthiest taxpayers over the past several years.

In 2012, the top 400 paid an effective tax rate of 16.72 percent on average adjusted gross income of $226 million. Compare that to 2014 when the same group paid an effective federal tax rate of 23.13 percent on AGI averaging $318 million. If Trump’s tax proposals are put into law then the top 400 are likely to see their effective tax rate go back down again, but now that the IRS will no longer be releasing this report, there is no way to know by exactly how much.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2016/12/01/how-much-will-trump-cut-taxes-for-top-400-well-never-know-as-irs-ends-400-report/#1acdd9db1795

Posted in
How Long Does it Really Take to Prepare Business Taxes?

How Long Does it Really Take to Prepare Business Taxes?

How Long Does it Really Take to Prepare Business Taxes? For most people, just hearing the words business taxes is enough to cause uneasy feelings, but for business owners the thought of doing their own business taxes can be a nightmare. Filing individual tax returns can be hard enough but the process gets even more…

Corporate Tax Planning: Mergers, Acquisitions and Reorganizations

Tax Topics Business Owners Need to Know

Being the owner of a small business can be very rewarding, but very challenging at the same time. One of the biggest challenges small business owners face is dealing with taxes. There are countless items to keep track of and monitor with small business taxes, but these are some of the most important issues to…

Top Tax-Saving Moves Used By High Net Worth Individuals

One of the biggest complaints certain groups or individuals have against the wealthy is that they can take advantage of too many tax breaks and loopholes to lower their tax bill. So what are some of the top tax strategies that high net worth individuals use to keep their tax rates down, and could anyone…

Should University Donations Trigger Tax Breaks for the Wealthy?

Universities big and small receive donations from many different sources, including wealthy alumni. However, not all donations are created equal and because the wealthy donors get a huge tax break for their significant donations, some wonder if that is really fair. For example, Nike co-founder, Phil Knight, recently donated $400 million to Stanford, where he…