Tax practice

A group of Democratic lawmakers has introduced legislation designed to prohibit federal contracts to multinational companies that use corporate inversions to cut their tax rates.

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is hoping to lift the veil on the use of anonymous companies for financial transactions by forcing financial firms to disclose and verify the identities of the actual people, or “beneficial owners,” behind the transactions.

Getting a foreign address isn’t the only way American companies are skirting corporate income taxes.

Lois Lerner, the former director of the Internal Revenue Service’s Exempt Organizations unit, referred to “crazies” and “---holes” in an email exchange uncovered by Republican lawmakers on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that 40 tax preparers across the state have been suspended by the state tax department under new regulations requiring them to file their own taxes.

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

A pair of Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill that would provide tax relief to student loan borrowers who have been granted debt relief after consistently repaying their student loan debt for at least 20 years, giving them an exemption from being taxed on the amount forgiven on the loans.

Tobacco makers were able to avoid paying billions of dollars in federal excise taxes by reclassifying their “roll-your-own” tobacco products as pipe tobacco, and small cigars as large cigars, according to a new government report and witnesses at a Senate hearing Tuesday.

Reeling from a series of budget cuts in recent years, the Internal Revenue Service has slashed the customer service functions at its walk-in offices, but did not evaluate the potential impact of reducing or eliminating key services at 386 Taxpayer Assistance Centers prior to implementing changes at those locations, according to a new government report.

The Internal Revenue Service is being pressed to provide more awareness of tax breaks for victims and survivors of terrorist attacks such as 9/11, including first responders.

The IRS Return Preparer Office plans to mail letters this week to approximately 5,000 preparers who are doing returns without valid PTINs.

The scheduled depletion date for Social Security’s Disability Insurance Trust Fund is only two years away, in late 2016, according to a new government report.

Approximately 83,000 employees and contractors who work for the Department of Defense, and are eligible for a security clearance, owe more than $730 million in unpaid federal taxes, according to a new government report.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have released final regulations on the Premium Tax Credit for health insurance, including rules that allow victims of domestic violence to claim the credit.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

The House has passed legislation that would require taxpayers to provide a Social Security number to claim the Child Tax Credit in an effort to discourage fraud, as well as adjust the amount of the credit for inflation.

The Internal Revenue Service released draft versions Thursday of several forms for employers and individuals to comply with the Affordable Care Act, along with draft versions of more common forms such as the 1040 and 1040EZ for next filing season.

A former Internal Revenue Service employee was arrested and charged with participating in an identity theft conspiracy that used information stolen from the files of other IRS employees.

President Barack Obama attacked companies that use cross-border mergers to escape U.S. taxes, accusing them of being “corporate deserters who renounce their citizenship to shield profits.”

The House approved legislation to consolidate four different tax incentives for higher education into a single tax credit.