Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service placed two employees on leave for accepting free food during a party at a 2010 agency conference that will be the subject of a congressional hearing today.

Several factors have led an increasing number of states to implement specialized state tax tribunals to resolve state tax controversies.

A partisan divide is developing on how U.S. lawmakers view Internal Revenue Service actions, with Republicans seeing intimidation of their allies and Democrats citing agency mistakes and mismanagement.

The Internal Revenue Service is exploring ways to improve its verification process before issuing tax refunds, but it needs to do a better job of managing the risks, according to a new government report.

Senior tax professionals are most worried about the prospects for U.S federal business tax reform and the heightened regulatory environment in transfer pricing, according to a new survey by KPMG.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Small Business and Self-Employed division spent $4.1 million on a conference in Anaheim, Calif., in 2010 that included questionable expenses for planning trips, outside speakers, video productions, and promotional items and gifts for IRS employees, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

The Internal Revenue Service announced the selection Tuesday of several senior leaders to assist newly appointed Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel.

Acting Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel told lawmakers he is working to restore trust in the beleaguered U.S. tax agency and said he wants to make improvements before pressing for a bigger budget.

The Tax Court sided with a taxpayer after the IRS Appeals Office sustained the filing of a notice of federal tax lien against the property of the taxpayer, Antonio Lepore, to collect assessed trust fund recovery penalties for unpaid unemployment taxes. Lepore argued that the Appeals Office erred because it did not permit him to contest his liability for the trust fund recovery penalties on which the assessments were based. A person who has received a Letter 1153 from the IRS has already had an opportunity to contest trust fund recovery penalties, and is barred from contesting the liabilities before the Appeals Office in the context of its determination to sustain the filing of a notice of federal tax lien.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has suspended trading in 61 microcap shell companies in an effort to prevent stock fraud, in the second largest trading suspension in the history of the SEC.

The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Darrell Issa, R-Calif., revealed new testimony from IRS employees in Cincinnati who were purportedly involved with the IRS’s screening of Tea Party groups and conservative organizations applying for tax-exempt status.

The principles behind the passive-activity loss limitations rules under Code Sec. 469 and the net investment income Medicare tax under Code Sec. 1411 are similar -- limit business losses from passive activities or raise the tax on passive-type income a bit more, when not the direct result (at least not a significant part) of a taxpayer's labor. Congress, however, did not leave it at that -- or, as some would argue, leave well enough alone.

A roundup of tax news from the previous month

As they continue to seek new sources of revenue to deal with tight budgets, states are looking to expand their nexus with taxable activities, according to a recent comprehensive survey.

On the heels of the release of the embarrassing Star Trek and Gilligan’s Island spoof video, and in the midst of a major scandal, a new Internal Revenue Service video has been released: a music dance video featuring some of the same employees who performed in the now-infamous Star Trek video.

The Internal Revenue Service has modified its “first time abate” policy, which provides a one-time consideration of penalty relief, based on the taxpayer’s compliance history, for taxpayers who have been subjected to a first-time penalty charge.

H&R Block has introduced a remote service for U.S. citizens living abroad that will help them meet their often confusing tax-filing obligations.

If the number of congressional hearings on tax reform this year is an indication of the potential for passage, it seems possible that something may actually be in the works.

The Internal Revenue Service does not have enough data to identify who claims a tax expenditure and how much they claim, for nearly half the dollar value of all tax expenditures, or $492 billion out of $1 trillion, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

The enhancements that the Internal Revenue Service is making to its Modenized e-File computer system promise to improve the system’s reliability and reduce delays in processing tax returns next filing season, according to a new report.