The AFL-CIO — the U.S.’s largest labor union — has been very bold on the national stage lately. An Aug. 30 news story http://thehill.com/homenews/house/56789-afl-cio-dems-push-new-wall-street-tax highlighted its support of a financial-transaction tax; in addition, it recently insisted tha ... Read more

May 1, 2009 Part 4 and final blog article in this series on trader tax status. Trader tax status is the lynchpin for many trader-tax breaks including business expense treatment vs. restricted investment expense treatment; Section 475 MTM ordinary loss treatment vs. restricted ($3,000 ... Read more

April 30, 2009 Part 3 in our series of new blog articles continues with a look at a specific exam we encountered — a 55-year-old business executive turned part-time stock-option trader. This person was denied trader tax status at the exam level. We’re expecting to overturn this decis ... Read more

April 29, 2009 Second article of a multi-article series which started on April 28, 2009 (see below post). The recession has brought a record number of job losses, but it also means a rise in the number of individuals launching a trading business for the first time. The active retai ... Read more

April 28, 2009 First article of a multi-article series. The IRS is turning up the heat on traders, small business taxpayers, the upper-income class, pass-through entities, Nevada C-Corps, offshore entities, and more. Trader tax status is under attack and I’m guessing Congress may ... Read more

Forex tax code is confusing and uncertain, making tax filings difficult for forex traders. Some types of forex trades are treated as Section 1256 contracts with lower 60/40 tax treatment (after filing a timely internal capital gains election), and other forex trad ... Read more

A potential new “financial-transaction tax” assessed on trading transactions would significantly increase taxes on traders. Imagine breaking even for the year and having to pay a $50,000 tax (0.25percent tax times $10 million of sales proceeds and $10 million of purch ... Read more

*Expected Tax Changes in 2009. *H.R. 7123, the Middle Class Investor Relief Act, which would increase the limit on capital losses from $3,000 to $20,000. *Excerpt from Green's 2009 Trader Tax Guide (before editing). *New IRS rules on adjusted cost basis and holding period. We discussed t ... Read more

A trend is not your friend The IRS won a few tax court cases over the past few years; disallowing trader tax status and IRC Section 475(f) mark-to-market accounting (MTM, ordinary loss treatment) for "close call" traders. Unfortunately for all business traders, a ... Read more