Tax practice

Practitioners who have clients with overseas accounts should alert them now that the FBAR (Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Report) form must be received by the Department of Treasury no later than June 28 this year. Although the actual due date is June 30, this year it falls on a Sunday and there is no extension of the due date when it falls on a weekend.

The Internal Revenue Service has finalized the regulations for the 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services that was included as part of the health care reform law.

The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing Thursday to examine corporate tax reform and the impact of offshore tax havens on base erosion and profit shifting by multinationals.

The Internal Revenue Service has taken steps to correct problems with its oversight of applications for Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, or ITINs, but more improvements in the program are still needed, according to a new government report.

Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have sent a letter to Internal Revenue Service acting chief Daniel Werfel requesting information about a March 2011 IRS search and seizure of as many as 60 million medical records from a California health care provider.

The Internal Revenue Service is not always properly monitoring or establishing the partial payment installment agreements it enters into with taxpayers, according to a new government report.

Senators Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., have introduced a bipartisan bill to make the New Markets Tax Credit program permanent and increase its annual allocation.

The Internal Revenue Service filmed a “Mad Men”-themed continuing professional education video last year featuring an actor patterned after the Don Draper character in the popular AMC cable TV series.

The Swiss and U.S. governments have signed a memorandum of understanding on interpretations of their agreement on implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA.

Bloomberg BNA has begun a joint initiative with Tax Materials, the producers of the tax reference book series TheTaxBook, to include content from TheTaxBook in Tax Prep Guides that will be offered as part of Bloomberg BNA’s Tax Practice Series.

New York Yankees co-owner and managing partner Hal Steinbrenner prevailed in a lawsuit brought by the Internal Revenue Service seeking to recover $670,494 from what the government alleged was an unwarranted tax refund.

The Internal Revenue Service, under a congressional microscope for conference spending and improper scrutiny of small-government groups, has fired fewer workers for misconduct this year than at any time since 2002.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has sent a letter to committee chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., urging him to stop making unsubstantiated allegations about the IRS Tea Party targeting scandal being traced back to the White House.

The Internal Revenue Service reminded tax professionals Monday that its offices will be closed on June 14, July 5, July 22 and August 30 due to the current budget situation, and the closure will also affect the IRS’s Modernized eFile System.

The Internal Revenue Service said in an email to tax professionals Friday that it plans to retire and remove its Disclosure Authorization and Electronic Account Resolution applications from its online eServices on August 11, largely because of low usage and budget cuts.

The House Ways and Means Committee plans to hold a hearing next Thursday on the use of tax havens by multinational corporations to shift their profits.

While generally notices and other communications from the IRS are considered received by the taxpayer if they are delivered to the home by certified mail and signed for, such was not the case with a Letter 1153, received by and signed for by the taxpayer’s son but ultimately determined not to have made its final step on its journey from the IRS into the taxpayer’s hands.

The Internal Revenue Service executive who portrayed Spock in the agency’s Star Trek video parody apologized to lawmakers for inappropriate spending on a $4.1 million conference in 2010.

ADP said Thursday that it has helped U.S. businesses find more than $1.4 billion in tax credits in 2012.

George M. Cohan (1878 – 1942) is known to the public as the composer of classic songs like “Give My Regards to Broadway” and “You’re A Grand Old Flag.” To the entertainment business he is one of the legends of Tin Pan Alley and founders of ASCAP. However, to tax lawyers and accountants he is revered due to Cohan v. Commissioner, 39 F. 2d 540 (2d Cir. 1930).