Practice management

Failure by Congress to act on the alternative minimum tax by year’s end will lead to “significant” delays in tax filing and a strain on taxpayers, said Steven Miller, the Internal Revenue Service’s acting commissioner.

President Barack Obama again warned lawmakers that the U.S. economy will suffer unless there’s an agreement on a way to prevent more than $600 billion in automatic spending cuts and tax increases from taking effect.

Referrals and word of mouth remain the strongest marketing tool for tax preparers and other professionals, and as the 2013 tax season looms, here are some valuable tips for preparers to use referrals in their practice.

While improvements have been made in the Internal Revenue Service’s information technology systems over the past year, the IRS still needs to do more to protect sensitive financial and taxpayer data and deliver new systems, according to a new report.

The Internal Revenue Service has released interim guidance and final regulations on the medical device excise tax that was included as part of the Affordable Care Act.

John Karaffa had the right stats to found ProSport CPA five years ago, an accounting firm that serves professional athletes, as both an athlete and one that played abroad, like many of his clients.

The Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards has made a formal complaint against the state tax court’s chief judge, George Perez.

The so-called fiscal cliff has politicians in Washington performing the political equivalent of a soap opera as they leave the country in suspense about whether they will manage to resolve a self-inflicted crisis in time to avoid a recession next year.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued proposed regulations on the 0.9 percent Additional Medicare Tax for upper-income taxpayers scheduled to take effect next year as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

Small businesses need to deal with several changes in W-2 and 1099 forms and reporting requirements this year as the IRS looks to close the tax gap.

Microsoft Dynamics and Intacct partner Massey Consulting will be launching an educational webcast series aimed at helping CPAs to better utilize social media.

People who are interested in learning forensic accounting and economic crime investigation have found it has become much easier to do today.

House Republicans, rejecting President Barack Obama’s demand for higher tax rates, countered with a $2.2 trillion deficit-cutting plan that would trim Medicare and Social Security and cap tax deductions for top earners.

Accounting and advisory firm Marcum LLP has introduced the Marcum Commercial Construction Index, a quarterly index that will track the performance of the U.S. commercial construction industry.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she would try to use a procedure known as a discharge petition to bring a Senate-passed bill for extending the middle-class tax cuts to the floor of the House.

Four trends to put the 'service' back in professional services

Large whistleblower awards have been making headlines lately. News of a record $108 million award paid out by the Internal Revenue Service in September, followed by media coverage of $38 million and $2 million awards only weeks later, seem almost more akin to reports on lottery jackpots than informant compensation.

Many tax practitioners focus on improving their efficiency during tax season, but there are plenty of things they can do in advance to ensure success from January to April, according to 2020 Group chairman and CEO Chris Frederiksen.

The Internal Revenue Service has released its annual update identifying the circumstances under which the disclosure on a taxpayer's income tax return with respect to an item or a position is adequate for the purposes of reducing the understatement of income tax and avoiding the tax return preparer penalty.