Practice management

The Internal Revenue Service does not have authority over the qualified intermediaries who assist taxpayers with completing like-kind exchanges, exposing taxpayers to financial risks, according to a new report.

Women gave nearly $5 billion more to their heirs than men did in 2005, according to an analysis of Internal Revenue Service data by Grant Thornton.

The U.S. tax system is viewed as less fair and simple by tax professionals than the tax system in Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada, according to a new survey.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., revealed a decade's worth of his tax returns Friday, putting pressure on his Republican rival, Alaska governor Sarah Palin, to release her own returns.

Unenrolled tax preparers made mistakes on the majority of returns they prepared for undercover Treasury Department auditors, according to a new report.

The Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing on how foreign investors dodge taxes on U.S. stock dividends with the help of U.S. banks and investment houses.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., refused to resign his chairmanship of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee after revelations that he failed to pay taxes on rental income from a vacation villa in the Dominican Islands.

Influential tax protestor Irwin Schiff had his 151-month prison sentence extended by an additional 11 months after he was sentenced for criminal contempt.

The Internal Revenue Service has recently added a page to its Web site for small businesses and the self-employed.

The Congressional Budget Office sees the deficit growing to $407 billion for the year ending Sept. 30 and ballooning to $438 billion next year, with the takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae threatening to send it far higher.

“A rock is a rock.

Approximately $7.6 billion of potentially collectible taxes is lost annually due to withholding noncompliance, according to a report from the Treasury Department's inspector general.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have issued new regulations that will make it easier for charities to gain tax-exempt status.

Do you know how much longer your firm’s partners want to work?

A tax practitioner has teamed up with a software engineer to create a new tax prep program aimed at preparers who service Spanish-speaking taxpayers, especially undocumented immigrants who are ready to begin filing tax returns.Latino Tax Software’s MultiTax distinguishes itself from more established tax packages by helping clients obtain Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers from the Internal Revenue Service and allowing them to file multiple years of tax returns that they have avoided filing earlier. The software also lets preparers toggle quickly between screens in English and Spanish.

In the first-ever visit to Congress by the American Institute of CPAs’ Major Firms Group, CPA executive leaders from 81 of the nation’s top 100 accounting firms visited Capitol Hill just prior to summer recess.The firms, representing more than 54,000 employees and their clients, discussed with lawmakers those legislative issues that are important to the accounting profession, including tax patents and uniform non-resident tax standards.

CANDIDATES MAKE TAX PLANSChicago — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., called for an “emergency energy rebate” of $1,000 to be offered to families this fall, along with a $50 billion stimulus package to help jump-start job creation.

While many of the non-tax provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, enacted on July 30, 2008, appear directly focused at the problems arising from the housing and mortgage crisis that has developed over the last year, the tax provisions appear at best to have only an indirect effect on the individuals most impacted by the subprime mortgages and declining home values.The tax title to the legislation includes many provisions focused on the low-income housing credit, housing and mortgage bonds, and real estate investment trusts. This column, however, will take a closer look at some of the individual tax breaks and revenue raisers most likely to impact individual taxpayers and their tax returns in 2008 and coming years.

There are dramatic differences between the way large and smaller CPA firms handle various areas of practice management, such as management and leadership; recruiting, development and retention of staff; training; diversity of services; specialization; and partner accountability.For now, let’s define “large” firms as Top 100 firms; No. 100 had annual fees of $29 million in 2007. Meanwhile, the “smaller” firms are those below the Top 100 threshold.

Congressman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, never reported rental income from a vacation property he has owned in the Dominican Republic since 1988.