Practice management

Some of our favorite recent tax frauds.

CCH has released a new tax briefing analyzing the more than 160 tax proposals contained in President Obama’s $3.9 trillion budget plan.

The Internal Revenue Service did not always follow established procedures when trying to collect taxes from taxpayers who had declared bankruptcy, according to a new government report.

U.S. business executives are concerned about global competitiveness in light of the disparity between tax rates charged to their overseas competitors and the rates they are charged as U.S. corporations.

Highlights of some of our favorite tax-related blogs from the past week.

More than 27 million taxpayers have filed their tax returns from their home computers so far this tax season, an increase of almost 6 percent compared to last year.

The largest U.S.-based companies added $206 billion to their stockpiles of offshore profits last year, parking earnings in low-tax countries until Congress gives them a reason not to.

The Private Companies Practice Section of the American Institute of CPAs recently issued its annual Top Issues Diagnostic Report. For the fifth consecutive year, owner/partner accountability and unity has been cited among the top two issues for CPA firms comprising more than 21 professionals.

The Internal Revenue Service has revised its guidance on electronic signatures, with updated information on the currently acceptable electronic signature methods, identity verification requirements and electronic record requirements.

The American Institute of CPAs has written a letter to the Internal Revenue Service, asking the agency to postpone the effective dates for cost basis reporting for options and debt instruments.

Republicans in Congress want to add language to a U.S. aid plan for Ukraine that would block a proposed IRS rule curbing political activity by tax-exempt groups, Senator Bob Corker said Tuesday.

A former banker at a Credit Suisse Group AG unit pleaded guilty to helping American clients evade taxes, increasing pressure on the bank amid a U.S. probe of how it helped wealthy Americans cheat the Internal Revenue Service.

Many individual tax returns select a third-party designee, but even though this designation is widely used, its scope is often misunderstood.

Lois Lerner, who oversaw the Internal Revenue Service’s scrutiny of Tea Party groups, was looking for someone from every branch of government to help resolve the issue that eventually cost her job.

Policy makers on both sides of the partisan divide, from Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew to Mitt Romney’s economic adviser Glenn Hubbard, favor expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit. This rare harmony holds the potential to reshape the debate on bridging the growing opportunity gap.

The Internal Revenue Service is seeking civic-minded volunteers to serve on the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, a federal advisory committee that listens to taxpayers, identifies major taxpayer concerns and makes recommendations for improving IRS services.

H&R Block has launched a series of YouTube music videos featuring various musicians singing about the excitement of getting a tax refund.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said that after months of discussions with the Internal Revenue Service on producing documents pertaining to the committee’s investigation of the IRS scrutiny of political groups and subsequent issuance of 501(c)(4) rulemaking, the IRS will turn over emails and documents from the former head of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations unit, Lois Lerner, to him.

The owner of Perez Enterprises, a commercial tax preparation business located in Paterson, N.J., was sentenced Thursday to 40 months in prison for filing false tax returns and aggravated identity theft.

Pricing, billing and collecting fees for services are how accountants earn their livings.