For victims of financial fraud, the path to restitution is time-consuming and costly. But a new initiative from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is on the case to help bring them justice.

With the proposed student debt relief program mired and stalled in legal battles, it’s now revealed that erroneous notices of student debt forgiveness application approvals were emailed to about 9 million Americans. At this point, says Smith’s Samuel Handwerger, “the Biden administration might be asking themselves ‘Is the road to hell really paved with good intentions?’”

After two years of COVID-caused disruption, tax season this year ends after the traditional, April 15 statutory date – but with more extensions for some people, and they are not COVID-related. 

“All income is taxable unless the tax code says it’s not; all expenses are not deductible from that income unless the tax code says they can be deducted.”

What can a taxpayer do now to prepare for the tax year ahead? Maryland Smith’s Samuel Handwerger recently shared some advice. Handwerger is a CPA and a full-time accounting lecturer at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. He also oversees TerpTax, Maryland Smith’s free tax preparation service, which puts volunteer undergrad students to work helping qualifying community members and UMD graduate students file their taxes.

For many organizations, the pandemic era has been a test of resilience and adaptability. Maryland Smith’s TerpTax is acing that test. TerpTax, Maryland Smith’s free tax preparation service, puts volunteer undergrad students to work helping qualifying community members and UMD graduate students file their taxes. Most years, those tax returns are filed by the April 15 deadline, and soon after, the student volunteers head off in all directions for internships or job prospects. But 2020 was not like other years. And TerpTax was ready to adapt.

The SAFE Banking Act was a big step toward removing barriers for cannabis businesses. But other obstacles loom. Among them, the tax code.

Or: how to deduct the sportscar of your dreams. 

It’s not rocket science, but could it be a clever scheme to make a living and avoid the IRS?

It's often smart to file your tax returns early. But is that the case this year?