Roger Russell

The deficit reduction panel called for tax reform, as did the National Taxpayer Advocate and the House Ways and Means Committee. Now, President Obama has added his voice to the mix with his State of the Union address.

With nine out of 10 families either hiring tax preparers or purchasing tax software in order to file their taxes, it is clear that the Tax Code is too complex, too time-consuming and too costly for our families and businesses. So says Dave Camp, R-Mich., the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Henry Bloch, the “H” in H&R Block, needs no introduction to accountants, or the millions of taxpayers whose returns have been prepared by the firm — and the industry — he spawned.

The Internal Revenue Service has been hearing a lot of concerns about its new requirements for tax preparers to electronically file tax returns.

The modern era of tax return preparer administration began on Sept. 28, 2010.

President Obama’s announcement on Monday of a compromise agreement with the Republican leadership should bring some end-of-year certainty to the tax landscape, but questions remain.

Preparers looking for a wish list of provisions for the lame duck session of Congress to pass have a number of items to consider.

If you’re like me, you habitually print out anything that you download from the Web before you start reading or working on it.

Here’s some good news for those who haven’t renewed their Preparer Tax Identification Number by the end of the year. The process to renew it will be the same beginning in January as it is now, and it takes only about 15 minutes to do online.

Whether you’re happy, sad or indifferent with the election results on Tuesday, elections do have consequences and will affect all of us. Especially tax preparers.

“The First-Time Homebuyer Credit will jump up and bite you in the shorts at least six times this next tax season,” Doug Van Der Aa told attendees at the Thomson Reuters Users Conference.

Reports have surfaced that the federal debt commission (officially known as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform) is considering the heretofore unimaginable elimination of popular tax breaks, including deductions on mortgage interest, as part of its report due on December 1.

While we await the lame duck Congress to find out if and how much our taxes will rise next year, it might be well to remember that government — and the programs it loves to fund — will only keep growing until it runs out of funding. Hardly any government will willingly reduce programs, cut funding, or otherwise act within reasonable limits.

There may be some jobs tougher than beach master for the initial landing force at Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion, or Commissioner of Internal Revenue, but off-hand I can’t think of any. Both positions are intense, all-consuming, and attract a great deal of incoming fire. And Mortimer Caplin has done both.

With the IRS hearings scheduled for today on the proposed Circular 230 regulations on education and testing of tax return preparers, it’s becoming somewhat confusing to remember just where we are in the process of registering preparers.

The lame duck session slated to begin in mid-November leaves Congress a massive amount of unfinished business.

Positions have hardened on the subject of tax preparer registration and the proposed regulations slated to become final before the program of registering for preparer tax identification numbers begins.

Although the pundits have already weighed in on theeconomic effects of the administration's latest proposals at improving jobs andinvestment, the specific legislation to enact the proposals faces hurdles,which will diminish the likelihood of an effect any time soon.

It’s been five years since former Senator Connie Mack, then chairman of the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, said the panel would “take a fresh look at the existing Tax Code and will formulate options for making the tax system simple, fair and productive.”

While there may be some truth to the observation that August is a slow news month, the start of World War I in early August of 1914, as well as the deaths of both Elvis and Marilyn in August, qualify as exceptions. And for small to midsized CPA firms, the hearings earlier this week on tax preparer registration can be considered newsworthy, though perhaps slightly less eventful.