Tax practice

What’s greasing the wheels for the rise in mergers by U.S. companies? The tax man.

The international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has released a new report suggesting a number of reforms to strengthen the U.S. economic recovery, including tax reform.

Medtronic Inc., the globe-spanning medical device maker founded in a Minneapolis garage in 1949, is poised to become the biggest company yet to escape the U.S. tax system by shifting its incorporation abroad.

The Internal Revenue Service claims to have lost two years’ worth of email messages between Lois Lerner, the former director of the Exempt Organizations unit who is facing contempt of Congress charges, and correspondents outside the agency.

This week, the Internal Revenue Service adopted a “Taxpayer Bill of Rights” that takes some of the existing rights that are already part of the Tax Code and groups them into 10 broad categories, making them more visible and supposedly a little easier for taxpayers to find.

A unanimous Supreme Court has held that the funds in an inherited IRA do not qualify for exemption in bankruptcy because they do not share the same characteristics as “retirement funds” that traditional IRAs have.

The Internal Revenue Service is being asked to do more to crack down on tax noncompliance by partnerships and S corporations, including requiring more of them to file their tax returns electronically.

A Florida accountant has been arrested and accused of imprisoning three prostitutes in his home, raping the women, acting as a pimp and providing them with drugs.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is warning that tax season could be delayed next year if approval of tax extenders legislation is put off until after the mid-term elections in November.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Thomson Reuters has released a special report highlighting key provisions of the Affordable Care Act that employers, accounting firms and other professionals should understand to avoid tax penalties.

H&R Block reports that its revenues for the fiscal year ended on April 30 rose $118 million (4.1 percent), to slightly more than $3 billion.

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

The House passed a pair of bills Thursday to provide tax breaks to businesses.

Facing a series of budget cuts in recent years, the Internal Revenue Service is being urged to set a long-term strategy and use return on investment data to better manage budget uncertainty and set priorities at the agency, in a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a revenue procedure providing safe harbors for applying the general welfare exclusion to Indian tribal government programs.

Thomson Reuters has introduced Checkpoint Catalyst, the latest generation of its online tax research system.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations that modify the standards governing written tax advice and update related provisions.

The Internal Revenue Service issued a ruling yesterday clearing the way for institutional investors to seek changes to incentive fees assessed by hedge funds, which may make it cheaper for them to invest in such offerings.

The Internal Revenue Service has adopted a "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" that it said would become a cornerstone document to provide the nation's taxpayers with a better understanding of their rights.