The Tax Code on your iPhone

Earlier today, I came across this useful iPhone application and I wanted to share it with all of my readers. It was created by LawToGo and it is basically the full IRS tax code displayed in an easy to use iPhone application. Check out the following review of the app from iPhone JD.

The app's website says that this app is up to date as of December 31, 2008, and says that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will be included in the next (free) update. Nevertheless, from what I can tell, the app seems quite solid. You can use the app many different ways. First, you can just browse through sections, tapping to drill down to a specific section.

Additionally, you can search for a particular section. You can search for words, including AND search, OR search, and /n (within a certain number of words) search. Search terms are clearly highlighted in yellow in the search results.

If you know the particular section that you are looking for, you can also use the Search by Section Number feature. For example, like many Americans, I've recently been thinking quite a bit about my dwindling 401K. If I want to read Section 401(k) itself while I drown my sorrows, I can jump right to Section 401 and then scroll down to (k).

The app includes lots of additional features. You can use the arrows to browse back and forth through sections. You can e-mail a section of the tax code, you can add a section that you use frequently to your Bookmarks, and you can turn your iPhone screen on its side to view everything a little bit larger in landscape mode.

If you want to see this app in action before you buy it, there is a video overview on the LawToGo website. The developer has done a nice job with this app. I am sure that any tax attorney would find it very useful, and for the rest of us, it may serve as a useful sleep aid.

Geithner: Changes Will 'Restore Balance' To Tax Code

The White House unveiled some new tax cut benefits for corporations, that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says will restore balance to the US tax code. I have included a snippet from a Wall Street Journal story on the new changes, but the full text can be read here.

The White House on Monday unveiled proposals to cut tax benefits for U.S. corporations that invest overseas and to use some of the expected revenue to make permanent a tax credit for investment in research and development.

U.S. President Barack Obama hailed the proposal and another intended to crack down on individuals who use overseas accounts to dodge U.S. taxes. Collectively, the administration said two proposals and other international tax changes to be released with the administration's budget later this month would raise $210 billion over 10 years.

The proposals target the foreign profits of U.S. firms like Intel Corp. (INTC), Eastman Kodak Co. (EK), Agilent Technologies (A), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Motorola Inc. (MOT) and Pfizer Inc. (PFE).

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who appeared with Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman alongside the president on Monday, said the administration's proposals are intended to "restore balance" and fairness to the U.S. tax code and end "indefensible tax breaks."

Obama called the proposed changes a "down payment" on reforms to ensure that U.S. companies "pay what they should."

Currently, U.S. businesses may take immediate deductions on their U.S. tax returns for expenses on overseas investments, but defer paying U.S. taxes on profits from those investments. Obama characterized the practice as part of a "broken" tax code that favors companies for investing overseas as opposed to those that invest and create jobs at home.

Under the administration's proposal, companies would be barred from taking deductions on their U.S. taxes for offshore investments until they pay taxes on their offshore profits. It calls for the change to take effect in 2011, estimating it would raise $60.1 billion from 2011 to 2019.

That is similar to a measure proposed by House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. But in one difference from the Rangel proposal, the White House plan would preserve the tax benefit for U.S.-based research that is related to overseas business.

Additionally, the administration called for new limits on tax provisions that allow U.S. businesses to claim a credit against their U.S. taxes for the foreign taxes paid, saying some U.S. firms take advantage of it by inflating or accelerating foreign-tax credits. Closing such loopholes would raise $43.0 billion from 2011 to 2019, the administration said.

Expected revenue from such changes would fund a permanent extension of the research and development tax credit, now set to expire at the end of the year, the administration said. Obama plans to provide a $74.5 billion R&D tax credit over 10 years to businesses that invest in the U.S. The administration also is looking to beef up IRS enforcement, proposing to add 800 full-time employees at the tax-collection agency.

Obama Asks Volcker to Lead Panel on Tax-Code Overhaul

This morning Bloomberg.com published an article discussing President Obama’s recent decision to put former Federal Reserve Chairman, Paul Volcker, in charge of a tax code review. You can find a snippet of the story below, or checkout Bloomberg.com.

President Barack Obama is putting former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker in charge of a tax-code review aimed at closing loopholes, streamlining the law and generating revenue, budget Director Peter Orszag said.

Volcker, 81, who heads the president’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, is being asked to take a look at the laws in an effort to rebalance the tax system.

Orszag said the review, given a deadline of Dec. 4, is being ordered to make recommendations on steps to simplify the code, built over the last 96 years, in ways that would reduce tax evasion and what he called “corporate welfare.”

“There are hundreds of billions of dollars in uncollected taxes each year,” Orszag said in a conference call. The Volcker board “will be examining ways of being even more aggressive on reducing the tax gap.”

The tax gap is the difference between the amount of taxes owed by taxpayers and companies and the amount collected. Orszag cited academic studies suggesting that the difference is $300 billion or more. That is “ a lot of money,” he said, adding that the administration is going to be “as aggressive as possible” in reducing it.

Obama made a tax overhaul part of his platform during the presidential campaign. One goal is to close loopholes that he said reward companies that move jobs overseas.

Task Force

Austan Goolsbee, a senior economic adviser to the president, will be named staff director of the task force, which will report back to Volcker, Orszag said. Members of the panel will include Harvard University’s Martin Feldstein, former chief economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan; Laura D’Andrea Tyson, a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley and former economic adviser to President Bill Clinton; Roger Ferguson, chief executive officer of Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association and a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve; and William Donaldson, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Orszag said “the only constraint” on the task force review is that there be no tax increases during 2009 and 2010, and that the proposals shouldn’t raise taxes on families earning less than $250,000 a year.