Practice management

The question of how to pay for universal health care could lead to a troubling answer: taxing health benefits. Congress and the Obama administration will be weighing a variety of approaches in the coming months, with the goal of offering legislation before the August recess. Some legislative leaders, such as former Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., have advocated taxing health care benefits as one way to pay for an expensive health care overhaul. Up to now, these benefits have been tax-free.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to discontinue live programming of its Tax Talk Today webcasts on May 12, leaving accountants worried about their continuing professional education credits.

A chartered accountant from the U.K. who served as a former board member and vice chairman at global audit firm BDO Seidman has pleaded guilty to conspiracy with tax shelter promoters while claiming roughly $1 billion in fraudulent losses.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has raised the aggregate 2009 fee it assesses to public companies and other issuers to $157.4 million from $151.8 million.

The Internal Revenue Service says that small businesses with deductions exceeding their income in 2008 can use a new net operating loss tax provision to get a refund of taxes paid in prior years. The IRS says it will work to issue refunds within 45 days or less “to the degree possible.”

Lawmakers continue to apply pressure to the Securities and Exchange Commission to reinstate a Depression-era rule that prevents traders from short-selling stocks whose share prices are falling.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a pair of proposed fair value staff positions written to provide additional guidance regarding measurements and impairments of securities, after coming under pressure at a congressional hearing to ease mark-to-market accounting standards.

Don't cut that marketing budget -- or at least think twice before you get out the scalpel.

Accounting Today queried a selection of firms and asked marketing leaders for their single best strategy that raised their profile -- as well as their insight into accounting marketing trends. Thalia Zetlin "It was a niche-specific strategy with a particularly timely focus. The economy is on everyone's mind. We empathize with clients and we're taking action. Leveraging the firm's brainpower and sensitivity to current and anticipated client needs, the firm is producing guidance to help clients move through a difficult time. We zero-in on the business and personal issues in each sector. The media is picking up on our timely insights and, in this interactive world, one mention leads to many others, and we're seeing a tremendous surge in media exposure -- further distinguishing us in the marketplace."

A federal grand jury has indicted a California tax preparer for claiming he was an enrolled agent with the Internal Revenue Service.

Switzerland’s longstanding banking secrecy laws are about to become as holey as Swiss cheese after authorities caved in to pressure from international tax authorities.

Taxpayers who do not file their return and pay their tax by the due date may have to pay a penalty. Here are seven things you should know about failure-to-file and failure-to-pay penalties, according to the Internal Revenue Service. 1. The failure-to-file penalty is generally more than the failure-to-pay penalty. So if you cannot pay all the taxes you owe, you should still file your tax return and explore other payment options in the meantime.

Provisions in the recently signed $787 billion economic stimulus package - the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - will have a ripple effect across all industries, according to experts.

Is your firm interested in entering the federal government market? In an uncertain economy, the federal government can be a reliable source of revenues, often with good margins. A terrible economy, ironically, might be about the best time to try, due to a confluence of events - an unending spate of bailout and stimulus initiatives, coupled with the new administration's strong demands for transparency and accountability.Just administering the programs will require the Treasury Department and other branches of the government to use thousands of additional auditors and other accounting professionals. The requirement for extra hands on deck will be compounded by what the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee called an "unprecedented level of accountability" that will be part of the bailout and stimulus programs going forward.

Despite the current economic slowdown, the busy season is well underway as firms across the country are preparing the onslaught of returns that roll in during the weeks and months prior to April 15. The increased workloads during this period create the need for more workers to assist with the rush, and temporary employees are an effective resource during these times.In years past, firms have increased staff by up to 40 percent during tax season to supplement full-time staff. Temporary employees offer a number of advantages for big firms, and therefore are a commonly used resource during the busy season.

IRS SEES LESS E-FILINGKennesaw, Ga. - In early February, the Internal Revenue Service reported a nearly 10 percent drop in electronic tax filing from tax professionals, despite a push by the agency to encourage more e-filing.

2008 was a tough year for investors and 2009 so far is shaping up to be more of the same. Nevertheless, investors should not lose sight of the value of capital losses for tax purposes.Capital losses can help lessen the sting of the market's decline. Just as the government shares some of your gains by taxing them, it shares some of the losses by allowing certain deductions and carryovers. This article dusts off a handful of capital loss rules that are particularly relevant in today's economy - rules that may have been forgotten over recent years.

Accountability, according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, is "the obligation or responsibility to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions."Let's explore what this definition means.

Are intergenerational issues within your firm stressing you out? You're not alone. That's why we launched Accounting Tomorrow, a new Web site that deals with the changing dynamics of a multi-generational workplace.With fresh blog posts every day and a new story every week, www.accountingtomorrow.com is already generating commentary and feedback from its readers.

The tiny European countries of Liechtenstein and Andorra are two of the latest tax havens to succumb to pressure from international authorities to share information about assets hidden in bank accounts.