Tax practice

To mark Earth Day, Congressman John K. Delaney, D-Md., said he plans to introduce legislation later this spring to tax greenhouse gas emissions in response to climate change concerns.

The House Ways and Means Committee released a new report Wednesday on the Internal Revenue Service’s declining level of customer service during the 2015 tax-filing season, blaming the IRS for diverting funds away from taxpayer service to finance other priorities such as implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

“The business tax system today is inefficient, overly complex, and too riddled with loopholes,” said Mark Mazur, assistant secretary for tax policy at the U.S. Department of Treasury.

The National Taxpayer Advocate has recommended that the reporting rules under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and for Foreign Bank Account Reports in effect be merged to simplify the duplicative disclosure requirements that make it difficult for American expatriates to have bank accounts in the foreign countries where they live.

New York City’s Museum of Sex hasn’t paid any sales taxes for four years and is now facing an $82,192 tax lien from state tax authorities.

The Internal Revenue Service has revised the form that employers can use to claim the Work Opportunity Tax Credit for eligible workers, but the certification form must be filed by April 30.

Tax season is finally over. For many, now is a time for some relaxation before ramping back up for summer work.

Thomson Reuters has introduced a Checkpoint Learning Health Care Reform Certificate Program for tax and accounting professionals.

The IRS is holding up its end of the chore of filing implications created by the ACA, according to Commissioner John Koskinen’s tax day testimony before a Senate committee.

A tax preparer in Queens, N.Y., has pleaded guilty to 38 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false federal income tax returns and four counts of filing false personal income tax returns.

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

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

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

The Web series Nacho Punch recently posted a funny new video for Tax Day satirizing trailers for romantic comedies, this one involving an accountant named Beth and a hapless taxpayer named Ben who fall in love over his taxes.

Scott Fleszar of Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting talks with Dan Hood of Accounting Today about how accountants should deal with younger consumers who are accustomed to using mobile devices and Web-based services.

The Internal Revenue Service has filed a $70,000 tax lien against Melissa Harris-Perry, a professor at Wake Forest University and host of an eponymously titled cable TV news and talk show on MSNBC.

A group of Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate have re-introduced legislation that would ban federal contracts for companies that move their headquarters overseas, but only on paper, in order to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Finance Committee, has introduced legislation to support health coverage for unemployed and retired workers.

The U.S. House voted this week to keep the Internal Revenue Service from hitting the nation’s wealthiest mega-donors with gift taxes for their political contributions.

The candy-maker Mars Inc. rolled out a tongue-in-cheek video this week in time for Tax Day to commemorate a 2013 Tax Court decision in which the court ruled against a taxpayer who tried to write off the cost of a Snickers bar as a tax deduction.