Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service plans to begin accepting business tax returns on January 13, more than two weeks ahead of the start date for accepting individual tax returns.

A group of female House Democrats is urging Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, to allow a vote on extending federal unemployment insurance to help 1.3 million long-term unemployed workers facing the expiration of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program on December 28.

Consumer tax prep software maker TaxAct has signed an agreement with the health insurance exchange GetInsured to help taxpayers compare and apply for health insurance.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued Revenue Ruling 2014-02, explaining the tax treatment of payments under the National Mortgage Settlement to homeowners whose principal residences were foreclosed by mortgage servicers using techniques such as “robosigning,” where there was little documentation or examination by qualified bank officials.

Switzerland’s 300 banks have enlisted an army of auditors, lawyers and in-house workers as they race to meet a Dec. 31 deadline on whether to seek U.S. amnesty for helping American clients evade taxes.

The Senate has voted to confirm John Koskinen as the next Internal Revenue Service commissioner, succeeding acting commissioner Daniel Werfel, who was brought in to help reform the beleaguered tax agency.

President Obama has nominated Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., as the next ambassador to China, potentially setting back efforts at comprehensive tax reform.

“It’s never too late for tax planning,” a wise CPA once told me. “You’ve got till the ball drops to take action, and if you do it later than that, then you’ve got an early start for next year.”

CCH has introduced a program to help accounting professionals represent collections clients before the Internal Revenue Service.

The Internal Revenue Service was unable to keep up with demand for telephone and correspondence services last tax season despite efficiency gains from processing more tax returns electronically, adding Web services, and shifting resources away from enforcement, according to a new government report.

The U.S. has signed six more intergovernmental agreements with a half dozen jurisdictions, including several traditional offshore tax havens, to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA.

Last tax season marked an increasing level of noncompliance by tax preparers with the Internal Revenue Service’s due diligence reporting requirements for the Earned Income Tax Credit, according to a new report reviewing the IRS’s performance during the delayed tax season.

CCH, a part of Wolters Kluwer, has released the 2014 edition of its U.S. Master Tax Guide.

The Internal Revenue Service announced today that the 2013 tax season will start on January 31, and encouraged taxpayers to e-file or use the Free File service to get their refunds more quickly.

Although federal law prohibits agencies from contracting with businesses that have unpaid federal tax liabilities, more than 1,100 vendors doing business with the IRS owe a combined $589 million in federal tax debt.

When it comes to next tax season, tax preparers’ biggest concerns all revolve around lateness.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued guidance on in-plan Roth Individual Retirement Account rollovers, that is, rollovers within a retirement plan to designated Roth IRAs in the same plan.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued guidance on the application of rules in the Tax Code relating to health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts to same-sex couples in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision earlier this year striking down the Defense of Marriage Act.

The Internal Revenue Service announced the selection Tuesday of three new members and a chairperson of the IRS’s Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee.

KPMG is predicting a dozen key tax issues that will be confronting businesses next year, including the taxation of cloud-related activities, base erosion and profit shifting in multinational corporations, and the far-reaching consequences of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.