Tax practice

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

The Internal Revenue Service issued a revenue procedure and regulations explaining how a multiemployer defined benefit pension plan that is in critical and declining status can apply for approval of a proposed suspension of benefits.

Republican Senator Rand Paul’s plan to overhaul the U.S. tax system calls for a 14.5 percent federal flat tax for consumers and companies, the elimination of almost all deductions and the abolition of several other levies.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. owns more than $76 billion of assets through a web of units in offshore tax havens around the world, though you wouldn’t know it from reading the giant retailer’s annual report.

The House Appropriations Committee adopted a fiscal year 2016 budget proposal that would provide the Internal Revenue Service with a budget of $10.1 billion—$838 million less than the current level and $2.8 billion below the Obama administration’s FY16 proposal.

A New Jersey tax preparer was convicted of tax fraud for getting unearned tax refunds for his clients to make extra money for himself.

A series of budget cuts at the Internal Revenue Service have led to declines in taxpayer service, case closures and dollars collected from delinquent taxpayers, according to a new government report.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ internal controls did not effectively ensure the accuracy of nearly $2.8 billion in financial assistance payments to insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act during the first four months that the payments were made, according to a new government report.

It’s one of the sweetest employee perks in the hedge-fund world: a chance to invest in Medallion, the wildly profitable fund created by market legend James Simons.

Thirteen community organizations have written a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen asking the IRS to investigate whether the Walmart Foundation qualifies as exempt under Section 501(c)3 of the Tax Code.

Senators Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and John Thune, R-S.D. introduced legislation to improve customer service at the Internal Revenue Service, create new taxpayer protections, and update and strengthen existing taxpayer protections.

The Internal Revenue Service has released final regulations on the portability of a deceased spousal exclusion amount for surviving spouses facing estate and gift taxes.

ATAX, a Latino-owned tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services franchise company, reported Monday that the 2015 tax season was its strongest since it began franchising in 2007.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have teamed up to introduce new legislation that aims to make it easier for states and localities to collect sales taxes on online purchases and other remote transactions.

The National Society of Accountants has created a Tax Practitioners Bill of Rights.

The Internal Revenue Service has added some types of grantor trusts to the list of areas in which it does not plan to issue letter rulings or determination letters.

The Internal Revenue Service said Monday that all empowerment zone designations remained in effect through the end of 2014.

The Internal Revenue Service is reminding all taxpayers with a filing requirement for a foreign bank account report to report their foreign assets by the June 30 deadline.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund is awarding more than $3.5 billion in New Markets Tax Credits to 76 organizations across the country to stimulate investment and economic growth in low-income urban neighborhoods and rural communities.

Jeb Bush is getting conflicting advice from opposing wings of the Republican Party on a key economic issue: taxation.