Tax practice

The U.S. sought court permission to ask Citigroup Inc. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. for records of U.S. clients of Zuercher Kantonalbank, the biggest of Switzerland’s publicly owned regional banks, to determine whether those people evaded taxes, records show.

The Internal Revenue Service said it is sending letters in November and December to tax preparers suspected of filing inaccurate claims for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

The Internal Revenue Service is reminding tax professionals that they can earn continuing professional education credits online through seminars filmed at the 2013 IRS Nationwide Tax Forums.

A new study examines the likely effects of a change in the U.S. corporate tax system from the current worldwide system to a new hybrid system similar to the territorial systems used by other developed countries and concludes that such a change would increase the repatriation of foreign earnings by U.S. multinational companies.

CCH has debuted a CCH eBooks app for the Apple iPad to provide tax research on the go to tax practitioners.

Millionaires who avoid payroll taxes by claiming income as business profits are among those in Democrats’ sights as congressional budget negotiators seek a deal by next month.

Instant Tax Service, described by a U.S. judge as the fourth-biggest tax preparation business in the nation, was ordered closed after a court found it engaged in abusive and fraudulent practices.

If you’re an accountant who loses money, and your spouse is a real estate agent who makes money, can you combine your business with your spouse’s in order to calculate self-employment tax?

The Internal Revenue Service’s ability to detect identity theft has improved, but billions of dollars were lost to criminals in 2011, according to a new report.

Senators Robert Menendez, D-N.J. and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., have introduced bipartisan legislation to help entrepreneurs start and grow a small business and comply with complex tax rules.

A new report from the Government Accountability Office examines corporate tax deferral, highlighting the distortionary impact on the economy.

The Internal Revenue Service expanded nationwide on Wednesday the rollout of its streamlined Fast Track Settlement program, which aims to help small businesses under audit settle their differences with the IRS over their tax debts more quickly.

A bipartisan bill has been introduced in the Senate with the goal of simplifying income tax collections for taxpayers who work in multiple states.

A pair of senators have introduced bipartisan legislation that would rescind tax write-offs for illegal corporate behavior in an effort to hold corporate wrongdoers accountable.

Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, has written a letter to Internal Revenue Service acting commissioner Danny Werfel urging the IRS to disclose all the information it has available to date on the eligibility determinations it has made for individuals who have applied for premium tax credits in the health insurance exchanges that went online last month under the Affordable Care Act.

The Internal Revenue Service does not always identify potentially mistaken claims for General Business Credits when processing tax returns, according to a new government report that found unsupported claims for the credits totaling $1.3 billion for 2011.

The American Institute of CPAs has written to the leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee encouraging them to support the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013, also known as the DATA Act (S. 994), which includes a provision calling for establishment of government-wide financial data standards for federal funds.

A dozen emerging technology companies, including Twitter and Facebook, have enough unused tax breaks for executive stock options to eliminate all income taxes on the next $11.4 billion of U.S. income they collectively earn, according to a new report, giving them a net federal tax cut of $4 billion.

Anonymous visits by government auditors have uncovered accuracy problems with some of the tax returns prepared by volunteers who staff the Internal Revenue Service’s Volunteer Program, according to a new report.

The advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a rulemaking petition asking the Internal Revenue Service to clarify the regulations for tax-exempt business trade groups organized under Section 501(c)6 of the Tax Code and rein in abuses by them, while also calling on the IRS to investigate one such group, Freedom Partners, which is supported by the conservative Koch brothers who own Koch Industries.