Making the Most of Corporate Tax Reform
Although nothing major has happened yet, rest assured that corporate tax reform is on the way. The Trump administration has made big promises and at some point they are coming. So far, the president has proposed reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, while republican leaders in Congress have proposed a slightly more modest reduction to 20 percent.
Either way, the cut would represent a significant reduction form the current rate of 35 percent and corporations would see a huge boost. For example, if the effective tax rate dropped to 8.4 percent, then S&P companies would see the amount of pretax income they keep jump to about 85 percent from the current amount of about 76 percent.
The president has also proposed a repatriation rate of only 10 percent. In other words all the corporate income that companies are currently holding overseas in order to avoid the 35 percent U.S. corporate tax rate would only be charged a 10 percent rate if it were brought home to the U.S. There could also be a removal of the interest-deductibility, which could actually hurt earnings, but the tax breaks would far outweigh the losses.
Therefore, if you add it all up you get a lower corporate tax rate that would boost earnings by about 11 percent combined with a repatriation rate that would boost earnings another 2 percent. Removing the interest-deductibility would lower earnings by 2 percent, therefore leaving a net boost of 11 percent to S&P 500 earnings.
Hello? Is This Really the IRS, or Just a Scam?
No one enjoys getting a call from the IRS, but getting a call from someone who claims to be from the IRS, but who is really just a scammer, is even worse. However, according to the country’s top tax agency, that is exactly the kind of sophisticated and elaborate scam that has been going on…
United States and Singapore Buddy Up on Tax Evasion
For those who are still not convinced that the United States is serious about tracking down tax dodgers who are trying to hide money in offshore accounts, here’s one more piece of evidence that might change your mind. In a deal announced last week, the country of Singapore says it has come to terms with…
IRS Overpaid by $6 Billion in Child Tax Credits in 2013
Although no one will probably ever shed a tear to hear that the IRS paid taxpayers too much money, this latest report does nothing to breed confidence in how things are run in the nation’s tax collecting agency. According to reports, the IRS paid about $6 billion in child tax credits last year to people…
Small Business Stock Gain Exclusion Receives 2014 Extension
It’s not like the government to bring everyone some well-needed Christmas cheer, but the new tax bill that lawmakers were finally able to pass brought some good news for many investors before the year ends. It’s unfortunate that it took the entire year to get it done, but at least the tax provisions that did…