Practice management

The American Institute of CPAs has updated its Total Tax Insights calculator with information from 2013 to help taxpayers gauge the impact of more than 20 different federal, state and local taxes, including a new Medicare surtax that took effect last year, on their own taxes for this year.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson urged the Internal Revenue Service to adopt a comprehensive Taxpayer Bill of Rights in her annual report to Congress Thursday, saying it would increase trust in the agency and, more generally, strengthen the IRS’s ability to serve taxpayers and collect tax. She also recommended allowing voluntary certification of unenrolled tax preparers if the IRS fails to win a court appeal of a ruling invalidating its testing requirements for tax preparers.

Accounting Today is issuing a Final Call for speakers for its second annual Accounting Technology Forum.

H. Ty Warner, the billionaire creator of Beanie Babies plush toys, should go to prison for tax evasion, U.S. prosecutors told a federal judge.

The Internal Revenue Service started 1,492 criminal investigations into the use of tax returns to commit identity theft in the year that ended Sept. 30, a 66 percent increase, the agency said Tuesday.

The Internal Revenue Service audited 0.96 percent of individual tax returns in fiscal 2013, declining for the second straight year and reaching the lowest rate since 2005.

Small businesses, generally those organized as S corporations or partnerships, can run afoul of IRS guidelines governing “reasonable compensation” for individuals who are both owners/shareholders and employees of these companies.

The Internal Revenue Service has released draft instructions for Form 8960, the Net Investment Income Tax that was mandated as part of the Affordable Care Act.

Senators Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., have introduced bipartisan legislation to increase transparency around settlements reached by federal enforcement agencies, including disclosures of any tax deductions and tax credits.

Many years ago my boss, Bernard D. Kleinman, had a client that was a creative genius in the advertising industry, and was being courted by many other firms. He liked his job, position and respect and had no desire or thoughts of leaving. But, as a gentleman, he listened to whoever approached him.

The Affordable Care Act has opened up a host of questions for the taxpaying public, ramping up the usual levels of pre-tax season taxpayer confusion.

The tax and business advisory firm WTP Advisors is predicting that Congress will renew the expired Research and Experimentation Tax Credit as it has traditionally done over the years.

After watching a weekend of football, it is obvious how important the fundamentals are to success. The teams that rely on the big play are inconsistent. Basic blocking and tackling aren’t that interesting, but without them, they will prevent teams from winning. The same is true with your performance as a professional accountant.

The Senate has confirmed Janet Yellen as chairman of the Federal Reserve by a vote of 56 to 26, succeeding Ben Bernanke, whose term ends on Jan. 31.

The newly approved commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, John Koskinen, said Monday that he would support voluntary certification for tax preparers if the Internal Revenue Service fails to win an appeal of a judge’s decision striking down the IRS’s Registered Tax Return Preparer regulatory regime.

CCH has published a new tax briefing outlining some of the significant tax changes of the past year.

Software partner veteran Terry Petrzelka, now a valued advisor and consultant to vendors and resellers discusses the oft avoided issue of succession planning, how firms should be measuring themselves and what exactly is going on with cloud ERP, or the comparative lack thereof.

Thomson Reuters has debuted Quickfinder Tax & Financial Tools, a set of calculators, worksheets and financial tools for tax and accounting practitioners.

Deutsche Bank AG, BDO Seidman LLP and an ex-BDO Seidman partner were sued over claims they designed a fraudulent tax shelter that caused losses for a former chief operating officer of a Fortune 100 software company.

From my observation there appears to be a major vision problem with CPA firms: no formal strategic plan for growth other than mergers and acquisitions.