Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service did not pursue up to $53 million in potentially improper claims for the Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions Credit, according to a new government report.

A new Web site provides a state-by-state guide to tax laws and regulations for LGBT couples.

Thomson Reuters has published a special report on the 3.8 percent net investment income tax that was included as part of the Affordable Care Act, which tax preparers will be calculating for the first time on their clients’ 2013 returns.

The top lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee disagreed over whether extending tax breaks for research and international finance operations should be offset to prevent the U.S. budget deficit from growing.

The Internal Revenue Service has continued to make progress in addressing weaknesses in its information security control and improving its internal control over financial reporting, but weaknesses remain that could affect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of financial and sensitive taxpayer data, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing Tuesday on the subject of incompetent and unethical tax preparers and heard testimony on how the Internal Revenue Service should deal with them.

House Republicans are showing no sign that they’ll move forward legislation the Senate passed restoring benefits for the long-term unemployed.

The Marketplace Fairness Act, which was supposed to finally settle the question of how states can tax online sales, appears to have stalled in Congress after passing the Senate last year.

The Internal Revenue Service said that a qualified tax professional who has a Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, on file may now request a client’s account transcript using the Transcript Delivery System.

New York’s top banking regulator is investigating whether Credit Suisse Group AG’s private banking practices resulted in the evasion of state taxes, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The Internal Revenue Service paid out $53 million in whistleblower awards last year, a steep decline from the $125 million paid to whistleblowers in 2012, according to an annual report by the IRS Whistleblower Office.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Taxpayers who make cash contributions on or before April 14, 2014, for Philippines typhoon relief can get an immediate tax benefit by choosing to claim them on their 2013 returns, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

The Internal Revenue Service said Friday that victims of last month’s mudslides and flooding in Washington state will have until Oct. 15 to file their returns and pay any taxes due.

The Internal Revenue Service is not adequately performing the job of managing its mainframe software licenses, according to a report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Administering the 2010 health-care law is just like municipal snow shoveling—a top priority that’s non-negotiable, John Koskinen, the commissioner of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, said Wednesday.

The Senate Finance Committee voted to revive almost all of the 55 tax breaks that expired Dec. 31, providing benefits for wind energy, U.S.-based multinational corporations and motor sports track owners.

The Internal Revenue Service has released a new revenue ruling that offers simplified safe harbor due diligence procedures that a retirement plan administrator can use in order to be deemed to have reasonably concluded that an amount was a valid rollover contribution for an individual retirement account.

The IRS is requesting membership nominations for the Information Reporting Program Advisory Committee.

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