Tax practice

With tax season in full swing, it’s a good reminder that families with household employees have some impending deadlines. As most tax professionals are aware, the often overlooked household employment taxes – or “nanny taxes” – present a unique set of challenges.

The Internal Revenue Service’s new commissioner John Koskinen has released a message to taxpayers for this tax season, urging them to use the agency’s Web site and warning of long wait times on the phone.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the IRS had no legal authority to impose a nationwide licensing scheme on tax return preparers that would have required testing and continuing education as Registered Tax Return Preparers.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued final regulations Monday implementing the employer shared responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act, also known as the employer mandate, providing additional time to small and large businesses.

Harvard University pledged to ensure restitution for as many as 11,000 employees after two of its faculty pointed out the impact of a tax error by the school.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases …

The Internal Revenue Service is warning taxpayers to be sure to notify the Social Security Administration before they file their taxes if they have changed their own name or the name of one of their dependents has changed. Otherwise their tax refund could be delayed.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a revenue procedure to help taxpayers with so-called “mezzanine” financing in workouts and similar circumstances when they have debts that have been discharged in connection with real property.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., was confirmed Thursday as U.S. Ambassador to China, which could prolong an investigation of the Internal Revenue Service’s handling of tax-exempt applications, along with tax reform efforts.

Businesses often take a risk in the development of new products and processes.

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

Refundo, a provider of low-cost tax-related bank products, has partnered with online- and app-payment provider Stripe to allow tax offices to accept credit card payments through Refundo’s online platform.

The Internal Revenue Service's new commissioner, John Koskinen, told a congressional hearing Wednesday that the IRS has received an unprecedented number of comments on its proposed regulations for 501(c)4 tax-exempt groups and they will not be finalized anytime soon.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday the U.S. has signed intergovernmental agreements with both Canada and Hungary to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, in an effort to discourage offshore tax evasion.

International Business Machines Corp. has reduced its tax rate to a two-decade low with help from a tax strategy that sends profits through a Dutch subsidiary.

Who is the tax preparer's client -- the taxpayer, or the IRS?

The security of the Internal Revenue Service’s new online app for requesting tax transcripts is receiving extra scrutiny after the security and vulnerability to identity theft has been questioned, but the IRS contended it is taking steps to safeguard the security of the service.

The Internal Revenue Service has updated and improved its IRS2Go mobile app this tax season, adding new features including a way to track the status of a taxpayer’s tax refund.

The number of criminal prosecutions referred by the Internal Revenue Service to the Justice Department has increased 23.4 percent during the Obama administration.

Congressman Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Select Revenue Subcommittee, has introduced legislation containing a number of tax and other provisions with the goal of jumpstarting the economy, financing investment in infrastructure, fighting income inequality and creating jobs.