Senate Bill Would Expand Tax Credit for Hiring Veterans

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., have introduced legislation that would expand an existing tax credit for hiring veterans to encourage further hiring while making it easier for business claim.

Use it or lose it...

The 2012 gift tax annual exclusion allows you to give up to $13,000 per recipient tax-free without using up any of your lifetime gift tax exemption. If you and your spouse “split” the gift, you can give $26,000 per recipient. The exclusion is scheduled to increase to $14,000 ($28,000 for split gifts) in 2013.

President Obama secured a second term in office November 6, 2012, in the end winning the Electoral College by a wide margin. The President's re-election now sets in motion what will likely be difficult negotiations between Democrats and Republicans over the fate of the Bush-era tax cuts, nearly $100 billion in automatic spending cuts, and the more than 50 expiring tax extenders, which include the alternative minimum tax (AMT) patch for tens of millions of taxpayers. The President's re-election has also significantly changed the dynamics for reaching an eventual agreement over long-term tax reform.

Click here to read the tax briefing.