Tax practice

Tax preparation software provider TaxSlayer detected suspicious activity on its servers about a week after another tax software developer, TaxAct, was attacked by identity thieves.

Given that tax prep businesses, like all businesses that depend on repeat customers, lose a portion of their client base each year, it is imperative they market themselves and attract new clients just to stay even.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to do more work to refine its latest fraud detection system to catch the new schemes that its older system managed to detect, according to a government report.

After three years and $1.37 billion in penalties, the U.S. is ending a disclosure program that forced Swiss banks to reveal all the secret ways they helped Americans evade taxes.

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

European Union competition chief Margrethe Vestager said Thursday morning she’s ready to investigate Google parent Alphabet Inc.’s 130 million-pound ($185.5 million) tax deal with the U.K. if there are complaints. It didn’t take long for the first to surface.

Samuel Wyly’s lawyer, fighting a $2.2 billion claim by the Internal Revenue Service, told a skeptical judge that his client’s tax planning was “aggressive but not illegal.”

Companies shouldn’t be able to get away with paying very low taxes—or none at all—in countries where they earn profits, EU Economic Affairs and Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said as he introduced a package of proposals designed to curb tax evasion.

Tax pros share their most confusing forms, clients and more. (Text version)

Most of the proposals that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have pitched for taxing the rich won’t go anywhere if Republicans keep control of the House of Representatives, as expected.

While the passage of this season’s extenders bill was widely anticipated before the end of 2015, it nevertheless contained some surprises for many observers.

TaxBuzz.com has unveiled its list of 50 top-rated U.S. tax professionals as singled out by their clients for superior service.

The IRS Return Preparer Office has begun sending PTIN expiration notices to tax professionals who have not renewed their PTINs. Notices will go to approximately 150,000 PTIN holders.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has reversed a judgment of the District Court for the Northern District of California in an income tax refund action brought by Al Davis, former principal owner of the Oakland Raiders, and his wife Carol Davis.

A large number of important tax changes go into effect for partnerships this year, along with due dates for business tax returns.

The Internal Revenue Service is urging taxpayers to choose their tax preparer carefully, warning that some unscrupulous preparers are pocketing their individual health coverage payments under the Affordable Care Act.

More than a dozen Internal Revenue Service employees misused their government-issued charge cards, but the extent of the confirmed purchases totaled less than $600, while another case of potential misuse totaled less than $2,350, according to a new report.

American Institute of CPAs president and CEO Barry Melancon said the AICPA is pushing the Internal Revenue Service to improve its services for both taxpayers and CPAs while preparing to become a more international organization.

Johnson Controls Inc., already exiting the auto-industry’s supply chain after decades as a key player, is now seeking to shed its U.S. corporate citizenship in a multibillion-dollar tie-up with Tyco International Plc.

The Internal Revenue Service is facing a fresh backlash from Congress after destroying a hard drive from a former employee whose documents were subject to a legal investigation.