Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service is changing some of the forms and procedures that organizations can use to apply for tax-exempt status as it seeks to emerge from a high-profile scandal last year over how it handled applications from political groups.

Many considered Dec. 31, 2013, the final date for year-end tax planning, but there are numerous planning actions that you can take in 2014 retroactive to 2013. Here’s a quick and easy guide to help you with your planning.

There are already numerous studies attempting to peg the effect of tax rates on economic activity. There will undoubtedly be more, as politicians, economists and tax experts seek the magic formula to maximize both economic activity and government revenue.

The American Institute of CPAs has updated its Total Tax Insights calculator with information from 2013 to help taxpayers gauge the impact of more than 20 different federal, state and local taxes, including a new Medicare surtax that took effect last year, on their own taxes for this year.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson urged the Internal Revenue Service to adopt a comprehensive Taxpayer Bill of Rights in her annual report to Congress Thursday, saying it would increase trust in the agency and, more generally, strengthen the IRS’s ability to serve taxpayers and collect tax. She also recommended allowing voluntary certification of unenrolled tax preparers if the IRS fails to win a court appeal of a ruling invalidating its testing requirements for tax preparers.

H. Ty Warner, the billionaire creator of Beanie Babies plush toys, should go to prison for tax evasion, U.S. prosecutors told a federal judge.

The Internal Revenue Service started 1,492 criminal investigations into the use of tax returns to commit identity theft in the year that ended Sept. 30, a 66 percent increase, the agency said Tuesday.

The Internal Revenue Service audited 0.96 percent of individual tax returns in fiscal 2013, declining for the second straight year and reaching the lowest rate since 2005.

The Internal Revenue Service has released draft instructions for Form 8960, the Net Investment Income Tax that was mandated as part of the Affordable Care Act.

Senators Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., have introduced bipartisan legislation to increase transparency around settlements reached by federal enforcement agencies, including disclosures of any tax deductions and tax credits.

The Affordable Care Act has opened up a host of questions for the taxpaying public, ramping up the usual levels of pre-tax season taxpayer confusion.

The tax and business advisory firm WTP Advisors is predicting that Congress will renew the expired Research and Experimentation Tax Credit as it has traditionally done over the years.

The Senate has confirmed Janet Yellen as chairman of the Federal Reserve by a vote of 56 to 26, succeeding Ben Bernanke, whose term ends on Jan. 31.

The newly approved commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, John Koskinen, said Monday that he would support voluntary certification for tax preparers if the Internal Revenue Service fails to win an appeal of a judge’s decision striking down the IRS’s Registered Tax Return Preparer regulatory regime.

CCH has published a new tax briefing outlining some of the significant tax changes of the past year.

Thomson Reuters has debuted Quickfinder Tax & Financial Tools, a set of calculators, worksheets and financial tools for tax and accounting practitioners.

Deutsche Bank AG, BDO Seidman LLP and an ex-BDO Seidman partner were sued over claims they designed a fraudulent tax shelter that caused losses for a former chief operating officer of a Fortune 100 software company.

Democrats in Congress plan to renew their efforts next week to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program that expired on December 28.

The Internal Revenue Service has returned to offering videos to help taxpayers cope with tax season, while avoiding the spoofs of old TV series like Star Trek and Gilligan’s Island that landed IRS officials in hot water last year.

The airline industry and one of its prominent allies are gearing up to fight a possible push in the U.S. Congress to tax baggage fees and other air-travel charges as a way to generate additional federal revenue.