Tax planning

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson said that lawmakers should consider making corporate tax returns part of the public record in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington.

About 10 percent of General Service Administration contractors owed roughly $1.4 billion in unpaid taxes between the years 2004-05,according to an investigation conducted by the Government Accountability Office.

The American Institute of CPAs and the American Association of Attorney-CPAs have partnered with the Internal Revenue Service to offer free tax return preparation assistance to some taxpayers impacted by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

Marion Barry, the former four-term mayor of Washington and a current D.C. council member, was sentenced to three years of supervised probation on misdemeanor charges of failing to pay income taxes for six years.

The Internal Revenue Service awarded contracts to a trio of firms to participate in the first phase of its private debt collection initiative.

Professional preparation of a non-itemized Form 1040 will cost a taxpayer about $110, while an itemized 1040 with Schedule A will run about $201, according to a survey from the National Society of Accountants.

Taxpayers doesn't seem to be returning to pencil and paper after the Internal Revenue Service discontinued its TeleFile service.

American taxpayer support for overall tax compliance has reached an all-time high, according to an annual survey commissioned by the IRS Oversight Board.

Kroger Co., the largest supermarket company in the country, will restate its earnings for the past three years for errors in accounting of deferred taxes.

The Ohio Department of Taxation has collected approximately $63 million in delinquent taxes previously owed to the state, which is more than six times the initial goal set.

The Supreme Court heard a case on corporate subsidies that could have a major impact on the legality of state and local tax incentives used as a means to spur economic development.

More than a couple of decades ago, a suburban daily newspaper publisher convened his editorial staff at a local restaurant to elicit ideas for selecting the best community to live in within the readership area.

Domestic partners in California must file their federal tax returns separately, despite a 2003 law that extended equal legal rights to registered same-sex couples in the state.

BNA has appointed David Schulbaum as its new director of marketing for the company's Tax Management Inc. subsidiary.

Tax protestor Irwin Schiff was sentenced to 163 months in prison -- including 151 months for tax fraud and an additional year for contempt of court -- the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service announced. He was also ordered to pay more than $4.2 million in restitution.

The Tax Foundation has released the third edition of a s tudy breaking down business-friendly tax systems, from first to worst.

Internal Revenue Service officials released a report on the agency's examination of political activity by tax-exempt organizations during the 2004 election campaign.

H&R Block Inc. said that a miscalculation of its own state taxes will cost the company about $32 million in back taxes.

Observers predict that this year's e-filing season, which kicked off on January 13, will far outpace previous years in terms of the number of e-filed returns."We experienced a big surge compared to last year," said Jo Ann Cummings, product manager for CCH's Torrance, Calif.-based ProSystem fx Tax. "We e-filed over 3 million returns last year, and we expect a big increase in that."

Deepening congressional concern over identity theft is casting a spotlight on tax return preparers who share their clients' Social Security numbers with outside contractors.In a report to Congress focusing fresh attention on the tax-outsourcing issue, auditors from the Government Accountability Office warned that the sharing of personal financial information by tax preparers and other private-sector industries could leave Americans unnecessarily vulnerable to financial fraud.