Tax practice

A pair of Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to require professional tax preparers to undergo examinations, take annual continuing education classes and submit to a background check.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

The House and Senate held hearings Tuesday on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting action plan, also known as OECD BEPS, for combating tax avoidance by multinational corporations.

Congressional staff reportedly worked over the Thanksgiving weekend on negotiations over tax extenders, the dozens of expiring and already expired tax breaks that perennially occupy Washington just before the end of the year.

A host of tax tips for the approaching year-end.

The Internal Revenue Service’s whistleblower program is plagued by delays, vague procedures, overpayments and underpayments, according to a new government report.

Wesley Snipes, the actor who fought an unsuccessful battle against the Internal Revenue Service over his unpaid taxes and ultimately served a nearly three-year prison term, is now in a fresh dispute with the agency.

The National Society of Accountants is offering some year-end tax tips for businesses, courtesy of Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting US.

The National Society of Accountants has released some suggested year-end tax tips for individuals, courtesy of Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting US.

Tomorrow, the IRS will begin processing tax year 2014 amended returns for taxpayers who are eligible to claim the Health Coverage Tax Credit for 2014.

A ‘first look’ at the new partnership audit rules

The Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of cases involving two former NFL players hit by Cleveland’s “jock tax,” which was imposed on visiting athletes according to a “games played” allocation.

The Internal Revenue Service has been developing a new system to detect fraudulent tax returns to replace an outdated system, but has not been able to phase out the old system, which could cost taxpayers an estimated $18 million per year to run both systems, according to a new report.

Deutsche Bank AG’s Swiss unit agreed to pay $31 million to receive a non-prosecution agreement in a U.S. probe of banks in Switzerland that helped Americans evade taxes.

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

Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting US has produced an infographic showing the states with the top 10 highest and lowest sales taxes, just in time for Black Friday and the kickoff of the holiday shopping season.

The Internal Revenue Service is simplifying the paperwork and recordkeeping requirements for small businesses by raising the safe harbor threshold for deducting certain capital items from $500 to $2,500.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to take extra steps to enforce the rules requiring information reporting of payment card transactions, such as those made through credit and debit cards.

The Internal Revenue Service sent out an alert Tuesday warning tax preparers about an phishing email message purporting to ask them to update their IRS e-Services information.

Vetting the candidates’ tax positions so far