Practice management

The average fee for preparing a tax return, including an itemized Form 1040 with Schedule A and a state tax return, will increase a few dollars to $273 this year, a 4.6 percent increase over the average fee last year, which was $261, according to a survey by the National Society of Accountants.

The evolution of technology has changed the way businesses operate. While this reality has at times led to a more competitive work environment for accountants, it also provides an opportunity for accountants to enhance their role as a trusted advisor and focus on helping their clients grow their business.

The Internal Revenue Service has made some changes to its forms this tax season and introduced some new ones as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

The Tax Court has held that a former special agent in the IRS Criminal Investigation division was liable for additional tax and penalties.

A pair of Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate have re-introduced legislation aimed at preventing the abuse of offshore tax havens by multinational companies.

The Internal Revenue Service has introduced an International Data Exchange Service that financial institutions and tax authorities in other countries will use to report tax information under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA.

Congressman Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., is introducing legislation to provide a “Paycheck Bonus Tax Credit” of $1,000 for every worker, which would be paid for with taxes on financial trading.

Six former members of the University of South Dakota football team have pleaded guilty to participating in a tax refund fraud scheme.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

In his weekly address on Saturday, July 26, 2014, President Obama criticized large corporations that employ tax inversion strategies saying, “They’re keeping most of their business inside the United States, but they’re basically renouncing their citizenship and declaring that they’re based somewhere else, just to avoid paying their fair share.”

The House fell only a few votes short of rolling back a requirement for companies with annual revenue below $250 million from filing their financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the data-tagged Extensible Business Reporting Language format.

Two Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee have introduced legislation to regulate paid tax preparers in response to the federal court decision that found the Internal Revenue Service had exceeded its statutory authority in regulating preparers.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that it anticipates opening the 2015 filing season as scheduled in January.

Large employers are increasingly putting an end to their most generous health-care coverage as a tax on “Cadillac” insurance plans looms closer under Obamacare.

The District Court for the Southern District of Ohio has upheld the Internal Revenue Service’s imposition of penalties totaling more than $1 million on an estate that failed to file its estate tax return on a timely basis and timely pay the estate tax it owed even though the estate attorney was battling cancer and lost her license to practice law..

The Internal Revenue Service has issued guidance on the mass transit tax break that was recently extended by Congress late last month when it passed long-overdue tax extenders legislation, along with a special administrative procedure to help employers cope with the last-minute retroactive extension.

Intuit has unveiled a free online resource to help tax professionals understand and prepare for the tax implications of health-care reform.

The Treasury Department and the Department of Health and Human Services are getting ready for the 2015 tax-filing season and the onslaught of questions they anticipate about the Affordable Care Act.

The House of Representatives passed the first piece of legislation of the 114th Congress on Wednesday, the Hire More Heroes Act of 2015 (H.R. 22), with overwhelming bipartisan support.

The Tax and Accounting business of Thomson Reuters has released a list of states whose tax codes make it easiest for people to keep their New Year’s resolutions.