Tax planning

A federal judge here has permanently barred a tax preparer from preparing tax returns for others.

CCH predicted that the indexing of many features of the Tax Code to adjust for inflation will bring taxpayers some relief next year as the company released its 2008 tax rate projections.

LexisNexis introduced LexisNexis Tax Advisor-Federal Code, containing federal tax content organized from a Tax Code perspective.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued proposed regulations governing patents on tax strategies and advice as a bill works its way through Congress outlawing such patents.

The Treasury Department is upgrading its Electronic Federal Tax Payment System while phasing out some of its older systems.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez called on the Senate to pass a permanent moratorium on taxes for Internet access and electronic commerce.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued regulations governing practice before the agency.

A church is demanding a correction and an apology from the Internal Revenue Service after the IRS closed a two-year examination of its tax-exempt status that had been prompted by a guest sermon delivered on the eve of the 2004 presidential election.

The Internal Revenue Service may start adjusting tax penalties for inflation to make sure the penalties retain their bite.

The Internal Revenue Service has been called on to develop federal licensing requirements for all paid tax return preparers - an approach that would involve potentially controversial competency rankings to help taxpayers to identify and select tax professionals based on their level of expertise.The proposal was recently placed on the table by the IRS's own Taxpayer Advocacy Panel as part of a laundry list of recommendations for improvements at the tax service.

Maximizing contributions to retirement savings plans is a priority with which few people would disagree. When money is needed for life's more immediate necessities or deemed necessities, however, retirement savings for that "distant future" may get squeezed out - at least temporarily.But even during those times when every dollar of salary may be called upon to satisfy an immediate need (or if salary itself is in short supply), tax-preferred retirement savings do not necessarily need to grind to a halt. Through gifts from one family member to another, or through moving regular savings into retirement savings, tax-preferred retirement savings opportunities need not be lost.

The Internal Revenue Service is not doing enough to control system administrator accounts on its computers, putting taxpayer information at risk, according to a new report.

New proposed Internal Revenue Service regulations to determine the value of a taxable estate may create a series of traps for unwary executors and tax preparers, according to the American Institute of CPAs.Moreover, the regulations lead to the situation where an estate must be held open for a number of years to determine the amount of the deduction for a contingent obligation.

Companies that send employees on extended international business trips and short-term international assignments face tax and immigration risks, according to a survey by KPMG's International Executive Services practice.

The Justice Department has sued a tax preparer from Charlotte, N.C., to prevent him from preparing federal tax returns for others, alleging that he abused the federal fuel tax credits.

The Internal Revenue Service is finally reaching out to former homeowners who have suffered foreclosure and now are being hit with taxes on any money they were forgiven on their mortgages.

Orrtax Software Solutions has appointed a new president, Matt Scheuing, to develop the tax prep company's corporate strategies.

The Treasury Department's watchdog group thinks it smells a rat when it comes to reports of Schedule C losses on tax returns, and it's urging changes in the Tax Code to establish "bright-line" rules for determining when an activity is a legitimate business.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D.-Ill., outlined his tax proposals in a speech at the Tax Policy Center in Washington, highlighted by a proposal for a tax cut of between $80 billion and $85 billion, coupled with increases in the capital gains tax.

The American Institute of CPAs has sent comments to the Internal Revenue Service recommending changes in the redesigned form for tax-exempt nonprofit organizations.