The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the Gig Economy: Why the Employee vs. Contractor Debate Matters More than Ever

2021 ◽  
pp. 088636872110602
Author(s):  
Stanley Veliotis ◽  
Balsam Steve
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Tax Law ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Independent Contractors ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Tax Cuts

The issue of whether workers are independent contractors or employees has become even more relevant with recently enacted and proposed legislation and court cases in many jurisdictions seeking to impose employee status on many Gig economy workforce participants, such as ride-share drivers. This article emphasizes that the U.S. income tax rules, especially after tax reform effective in 2018, makes employee status extremely tax-inefficient for these workers. This article explains the relevant tax law changes and provides various examples of typical settings to confirm that workers with even small relative work expenses are often better off as contractors from a tax point of view.

scholarly journals Measuring the Effects of Corporate Tax Cuts

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 97-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan J. Auerbach
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Corporate Income Tax ◽  
Tax Law ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
The Law ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Tax Cuts

On December 22, 2017, President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the most sweeping revision of US tax law since the Tax Reform Act of 1986. The law introduced many significant changes. However, perhaps none was as important as the changes in the treatment of traditional “C” corporations—those corporations subject to a separate corporate income tax. Beginning in 2018, the federal corporate tax rate fell from 35 percent to 21 percent, some investment qualified for immediate deduction as an expense, and multinational corporations faced a substantially modified treatment of their activities. This paper seeks to evaluate the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to understand its effects on resource allocation and distribution. It compares US corporate tax rates to other countries before the 2017 tax law, and describes ways in which the US corporate sector has evolved that are especially relevant to tax policy. The discussion then turns the main changes of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 for the corporate income tax. A range of estimates suggests that the law is likely to contribute to increased US capital investment and, through that, an increase in US wages. The magnitude of these increases is extremely difficult to predict. Indeed, the public debate about the benefits of the new corporate tax provisions enacted (and the alternatives not adopted) has highlighted the limitations of standard approaches in distributional analysis to assigning corporate tax burdens.

scholarly journals Discussion of Initial Operational Changes by Small and Medium Size Businesses in Response to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) 2017

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 212
Author(s):  
Micah Frankel ◽  
John Tan
Keyword(s):  
Physical Therapist ◽  
The United States ◽  
Internal Revenue Service ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Tax Law ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Apartment Complexes ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Tax Cuts

Congress and the president enacted the landmark Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) on December 22, 2017, the most sweeping change to the tax law since 1986. Tax laws such as this have a major impact on how business is conducted in the United States. This study does not attempt a comprehensive analysis of the changes in the U.S. tax code, but instead focuses on some key areas that affect most small and medium size business operators. Specifically this study examines how TCJA (2017) affects business operators in areas such as depreciation, net interest expenses, and entertainment. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been continuously issuing facts sheets and statements in regards to the TCJA (2017). The first half of this study is a brief literature review on the landmark changes to the U.S. tax for corporations in regards to depreciation, net interest expenses, and entertainment. The second half of this study is a report of field observations and discussions with business operators such as a landlord of apartment complexes, a hotel operator, and a physical therapist. Though this study does not provide macro or archival data to explain how business operators responded to the TCJA (2017), field observations and discussions suggest that the three business operators are renovating in response to full depreciation write off, reducing net interest expenses, and limiting entertainment expenses.

scholarly journals Is This Tax Reform, or Just Confusion?

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Slemrod
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Tax System ◽  
The Law ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
Tax Cuts

Based on the experience of recent decades, the United States apparently musters the political will to change its tax system comprehensively about every 30 years, so it seems especially important to get it right when the chance arises. Based on the strong public statements of economists opposing and supporting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, a causal observer might wonder whether this law was tax reform or mere confusion. In this paper, I address that question and, more importantly, offer an assessment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The law is clearly not “tax reform” as economists usually use that term: that is, it does not seek to broaden the tax base and reduce marginal rates in a roughly revenue-neutral manner. However, the law is not just a muddle. It seeks to address some widely acknowledged issues with corporate taxation, and takes some steps toward broadening the tax base, in part by reducing the incentive to itemize deductions.

Profit Shifting before and after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 1233-1266
Author(s):  
Kimberly A. Clausing
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Tax Revenue ◽  
Profit Shifting ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Corporate Profits ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Tax Cuts

In recent years, profit shifting by multinational companies (MNCs) has generated substantial revenue costs to the U.S. government. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) changed U.S. international tax law in several important ways. This paper discusses the nature of these changes and their possible effects on profit shifting. The paper also evaluates the effects of the global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) tax on the location of taxable profits. Once company adjustment to the legislation is complete, estimates suggest that the GILTI tax will reduce the corporate profits of U.S. multinational affiliates in haven countries by about 12-16 percent, modestly increasing the tax base in both the United States and in higher-tax foreign countries. However, a per-country minimum tax would generate much larger increases in the U.S. tax base; a per-country tax at the same rate reduces haven profits by 23-31 percent, resulting in larger gains in U.S. tax revenue.

Taxes in America

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard E. Burman ◽  
Joel Slemrod
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Law ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
The World ◽  
Comprehensive Reform ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
Answer Format

Arguments about taxation are among the most heated-no other topic is as influential to the role of government and the distribution of costs and benefits in America. But while understanding of our tax system is of vital importance, the complexity can create confusion. Two of America's leading authorities on taxes, Leonard E. Burman and Joel Slemrod, bring clarity in this concise explanation of how our tax system works, how it affects people and businesses, and how it might be improved. The book explores what makes a tax system fair, simple, and efficient, why our system falls short, and whether the new tax law promises much, if any, improvement. Accessibly written and organized in a clear, question-and-answer format, the book describes the intricacies of the modern tax system in an easy-to-grasp manner. It has been revised and updated to both explain the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017, the most comprehensive reform of its income tax system since 1986, and to examine its likely effects on individuals, businesses, and society. Among the questions discussed are: How much more tax could the IRS collect with better enforcement? How do tax burdens vary around the world? Why do corporations pay so little tax, even though they earn trillions of dollars every year? What kind of tax system is most conducive to economic growth? And, can taxes be fair?

scholarly journals The influence of cost taxes on the development of agriculture in Slovakia

2012 ◽  
Vol 48 (No. 8) ◽  
pp. 359-363
Author(s):  
J. Bojňanský
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Tax Law ◽  
Important Impact ◽  
Insurance Funds ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

The author deals with the influence of cost taxes on the development of agriculture, mainly those taxes, which have an important impact from the point of view of forming an entrepreneurial environment in agriculture. Among the cost taxes, the impact of land tax, building tax, road tax and income tax is most important. The analysis also deals with the contribution to the insurance funds related to employees. This contribution can also be considered as a taxation. The article also gives a prediction of the expected development of the consequences of the accepted tax law changes.

scholarly journals The New Tax Legislative and Regulatory Process

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 1135-1162
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Kysar
Keyword(s):  
Tax Reform ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Regulatory Process ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
The Future ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
Reconciliation Process ◽  
Implementation Challenge ◽  
Tax Cuts

This paper compares the enactment and implementation process for the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) to prior tax reform acts, as well as situates it within other developments in the legislative process more generally. It details how the 2017 enactment process solidifies reconciliation as the primary vehicle for the enactment of major tax measures, a trend nearly two decades in the making. The ambitious scope of the TCJA, as well as the rushed and partisan reconciliation process by which it was enacted, has led to ambiguities and instability in the legislation. These features have, in turn, posed an enormous implementation challenge for Treasury, which has led to some troubling results. Finally, reconciliation has set up the opportunity for Congress to engage in budget gimmicks in the future. This paper discusses these trends and proposes solutions to them.

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