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Associated Press | Tax Day is a dreaded deadline for millions, but for nearly half of U.S. households it’s simply somebody else’s problem.
About 47 percent will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009.
Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough
credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability. That’s
according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington
research organization.
By Becky Yerak
| Only 7 percent of Americans plan to blow their tax refunds on “fun” activities like shopping or vacationing, while 84 percent say they plan to use it to repay debt, save, invest or use it for everyday necessities, according to a Bankrate.com study released Monday.
Of that 84 percent, 30 percent will repay debt, 28 percent will save or invest, and 26 percent will put the money toward food or utility bills.
By Gail MarksJarvis | Are you among the many angry Americans who think government is out of control and wasting your tax money? You can get insight into the billions of tax money spent on recent pet projects through this earmark spotting tool. Play with it to see how the U.S. Senate and House spent your tax money in your state.
Get the full story: MarksJarvis on Money.
From the Wall Street Journal | Bankrupt mall operator General Growth Properties Inc. has agreed to pay the City of Chicago $300,920 to settle a tax dispute resulting from its 2004 purchase of Water Tower Place.
Read the full story: wsj.com
By Julie Wernau | Boeing Wednesday joined a list of companies that have taken accounting charges because of recent health care legislation.
The Chicago-based company said it will recognize an income tax charge of about $150 million and that beginning in 2013, it will no longer be able to claim an income tax deduction for prescription drug benefits for retirees reimbursed under Medicare Part D’s drug subsidy program. The charge is expected to reduce Boeing’s net earnings by 20 cents per share in the first quarter of 2010.
| Associated Press | Illinois Tool Works Inc. has lowered its first-quarter and full-year earnings forecast due to costs related to the health care legislation recently passed by Congress. The industrial equipment maker said Tuesday that it will record a tax The company’s shares rose during after-hours trading Tuesday, and they rose 15 cents during midday trading Wednesday to $47.58. |
See also • Caterpillar says health care bill would cost it $100M • AT&T takes $1B charge • Deere, Cat take $100M-plus charges |
Relief pitcher Mike Parisi of the Chicago Cubs pitches to Travis Buck of the Oakland Athletics during the sixth inning of a spring training game at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, Ariz. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
By Paul Sullivan | At a rally in Mesa, Ariz., Monday, Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts praised the spring training season, saying “We’ve had great attendance and a lot of fun out here.” But he declined to discuss the proposed “Cubs tax,” a ticket surcharge on all spring training games.
Get the full story: chicagobreakingsports.com.
Associated Press | AT&T Inc. said Friday it will take a $1 billion non-cash charge in the first quarter related to the health care overhaul.
AT&T’s charge is the largest announced so far. Earlier this week,
AK Steel Corp., Caterpillar Inc., Deere & Co. and Valero Energy
announced similar accounting charges, saying the health care law that
President Barack Obama signed Tuesday will raise their expenses.
AT&T
President and CEO Randall Stephenson today in Las Vegas.(AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)
AT&T said the charge is to reflect the change of the tax treatment
of Medicare subsidies. Companies say the health care overhaul will make
a subsidy that companies receive for retiree drug coverage taxable in
2011.
By Wailin Wong
| The Internal Revenue Service will keep nearly 200 local offices open on Saturday to help consumers with their taxes, including one location in downtown Chicago.
The offices will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time on Saturday, March 27. The IRS said taxpayers can ask staff about “economic hardship issues, make payment arrangements or get help claiming any of the special tax breaks in last year’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
| By Wailin Wong | This year’s tax season has brought an increase in e-filing and overall refunds compared with 2009, the Internal Revenue Service said.
For the period ending March 12, the number of self-prepared e-filing receipts is up 6.9 percent from a year earlier, according to IRS data. The average federal refund this year is $3,036, up from $2,770 in 2009. The IRS said the increase stems from tax incentives that were part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, including the homebuyers’ credit. |
See also • Chicago second city in procrastination
|
| By Wailin Wong | If you’re still dragging your feet on filing your taxes, you’re in good company. Chicago ranked No. 2 in TurboTax’s list of Top 10 Tax Procrastinating Cities for 2009, rising from No. 4 in 2008. The company compiled its list by looking at the number of tax returns filed electronically through its TurboTax Online service between April 14 and April 17 of last year. Houston took the top spot, “proving yet again that everything is bigger in Texas – even tax procrastinating,” TurboTax said in a blog post. |
See also • Graphic: Country’s biggest tax procrastinators |
By Gail MarksJarvis | The U.S. government is offering an easy-to-use (and free) tax-saving tool, where Americans can find tax credits if they have been raising kids, paying for college, making energy-saving improvements, or lost a job.
Get the full story: MarksJarvis On Money
Shoppers along the Magnificent Mile and everywhere else around the city of Chicago kept a tighter grip on their spending last year. (Scott Olson/Getty Photo)
By Sandra M. Jones | It is official: Count 2009 as the worst year on record for Chicago-area merchants. And a recovery, while on the way, will be a long time coming.
A deep-seated shift in consumer behavior — spending less and saving
more — means the fallout from 2009 will hover over the retail
landscape for years, according to a report due out next week from
Melaniphy & Associates Inc.
Retail sales in the Chicago metropolitan market fell 8.7 percent, to
$92.9 billion, in 2009 from the year before, marking the biggest annual
decline since at least 1985, when Chicago-based Melaniphy began
tracking the figures. The dismal performance follows a 4.8 percent drop
in 2008, a record decrease at the time, the report said.
A patient at Provena Covenant Medical Center in Urbana in September. (David Pierini/Chicago Tribune)
| By Bruce Japsen | The Illinois Supreme Court ruled this morning that Provena Covenant Medical Center in Urbana did not provide enough charity care to qualify for a property tax exemption.
The widely watched ruling, which rejected the Catholic hospital’s appeal of a tax review board decision to take away its tax exempt status in 2003, could set the stage for charity care expectations at hospitals around the country. The ruling — supported by three judges, supported in part by two and not voted on by two others — means the hospital will have to begin paying property taxes. It has been considered a nonprofit hospital like most hospitals in the U.S. that are exempt from state property taxes |
See also • Read the summary and full decision |
(Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News)
