Tax planning

The American Institute of CPAs held its annual ritual this week of visiting lawmakers’ offices on Capitol Hill to press the case for tax simplification, a ban on tax patent strategies, changes in tax-filing due dates, and other legislative priorities.

The American Institute of CPAs kicked off its 2011 Spring Meeting of Council on Sunday with a discussion of the Institute’s legislative priorities.

A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators from Florida, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio, have introduced a bill that would simplify the tax-filing requirements of senior citizens.

Accounting and consulting firm BDO USA LLP has been named a Preferred Implementer by CCH of its Global Integrator international tax system.

Senate Democrats failed to muster enough votes to advance a bill that would have eliminated tax credits for the five largest oil and gas companies.

Accountants across the nation barely had time to recover from the 2011 tax season before being buried under a blizzard of new tax law changes approved by dozens of state legislatures from Harrisburg to Honolulu.

The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on the current structure of international tax rules and how they might be hampering American employers in global markets.

A long list of organizations representing small and closely held businesses sent a letter to the leaders of the tax-writing committees in Congress urging them to include them in any upcoming tax reform legislation.

A group of lawmakers has introduced a bill that would temporarily lower tax barriers to encourage American companies with earnings overseas to bring those dollars back to the U.S. for investment.

Three Democratic senators have introduced a bill that would end tax subsidies for the five largest oil companies.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has proposed a $2 million fine against Republic Bank & Trust Co. after the bank tried to coach tax preparers using its refund anticipation loan products on how to respond in case the FDIC visited them.

A majority of multinational company tax executives predict that a broadened international regulatory focus on increased transparency will be the most significant change their company can expect in international taxation over the next year, according to a survey by KPMG LLP.

A new survey by Thomson Reuters found a perceived increase of 80 percent in audits of indirect taxes such as value-added taxes.

CCH has partnered with Comtax to offer the Comtex System international taxation software in the U.S.

Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., has introduced an energy bill that would eliminate some of the tax breaks enjoyed by the major oil producers.

Republicans in the House and Senate introduced a bill Thursday that could drastically change the way states distribute unemployment insurance benefits.

A bipartisan group of Midwestern state senators introduced legislation Wednesday to update ethanol tax credit policies, but not repeal the tax credit.

The tax-related talk in Washington lately has shifted from overall tax reform to specific fixes like eliminating about $4 billion in tax breaks for major oil companies.

A bipartisan group of senators has renewed the effort to repeal tax credits for ethanol, introducing a bill Tuesday that would fully eliminate the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit.

President Obama repeated his demand for Congress to eliminate an estimated $4 billion in tax breaks for the major oil and gas companies.