Tax practice

An Internal Revenue Service auditor was arrested and charged with two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure after he allegedly assaulted a taxpayer he was auditing and threatened to close down her business if she didn’t cooperate.

The IRS relieved small business taxpayers earlier this year from having to file mandatory Form 3115’s to comply with the newly issued tangible property regulations. Accepting this relief under Rev. Proc. 2015-20 is done merely by filing a federal tax return, leaving many accountants and tax professionals unaware of the negative consequences of doing nothing.

Americans for Tax Fairness, a coalition of 453 national and state organizations advocating for tax reform, has challenged the B Corporation status of Brooklyn-based Etsy, Inc., following the online craft seller’s restructuring of a subsidiary in Ireland, a tax haven, to dodge U.S. taxes.

A roundup of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

H&R Block announced that for the fiscal 2016 first quarter ended July 31 its total revenues increased $4 million, or 3 percent, to $138 million.

Check out the digital edition of the September 2015 issue of Accounting Today.

Schroders Plc’s Swiss bank will pay a $10.4 million penalty to avoid prosecution under a U.S. program that requires participating firms in Switzerland to say how they helped American clients avoid taxes.

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

The Internal Revenue Service's decision not to update mortality assumptions to reflect today's higher life expectancy could help corporate pension plan sponsors save at least $18 billion in 2016 as they continue to calculate minimum funding contributions according to outdated models, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service.

One of the leaders of the Senate’s main tax committee is sounding the alarm about proposed budget cuts at the Internal Revenue Service and warning that it could encourage identity theft, tax evasion and tax fraud by crime syndicates.

Puerto Rico is struggling under $72 billion in debt that is forcing the territory to make some tough choices.

Liberty Tax Inc. reported a net loss for its fiscal first quarter ended July 31 of $8.5 million, unchanged from the prior year.

A California CPA has admitted to abusing his positions at a worship center in New Jersey and a nonprofit in California to steal more than $4 million.

The Internal Revenue Service’s processing of tax returns that reported or claimed Premium Tax Credits during the 2015 filing season was challenged by delays in receiving data from some health insurance marketplaces and exchanges, and overpayments of Advance Premium Tax Credits, according to a new government report.

The Internal Revenue Service has proposed regulations changing the amount of the penalties for failing to include information required to be disclosed about reportable transactions.

The Internal Revenue Service did not always follow its own procedures when selling some of the property it seized for unpaid taxes, according to a new report.

The Internal Revenue Service is waiving penalties assessed against any college, university or other educational institution for Forms 1098-T that were filed with an incorrect or missing taxpayer identification number.

A selection of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Our weekly roundup of tax-related investment strategies and news your clients may be thinking about.

The chairmen of Congress’s two main tax committees, House Ways and Means Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, have written to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew saying he should hold off on developing country-by-country reporting regulations for taxation of multinational corporations.