Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service, currently under fire in Congress for its screening of applications for tax exempt status by conservative groups, could also use some improvement in the way it conducts examinations of individual tax returns, according to a new government report.

A pair of lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill in the House that would provide relief to nonprofits, such as the Girl Scouts, which now have higher pension funding rules than taxable, for-profit companies.

Lois Lerner, the mid-level Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the controversy over scrutiny of small-government groups seeking tax-exempt status, is being replaced on an acting basis, the IRS said today.

The American Institute of CPAs has expressed its support for the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, which would establish government-wide financial data standards for federal funds.

What do the Senate hearings on offshore profit shifting and a Supreme Court case decided on May 20, 2013 have in common? They both are generated by our system of taxing U.S. companies on their worldwide income, and they both are the result of the companies meeting their obligations to their shareholders, which is to legally minimize the amount of taxes they pay.

A pair of senators have introduced a bipartisan bill that would suspend federal employees if they willfully neglect to pay their taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service issued a reminder Thursday to U.S. citizens and resident aliens, in addition to dual citizens, that their tax-filing deadline is approaching.

The first round of congressional hearings on the Internal Revenue Service’s scrutiny of small-government groups didn’t reveal the people who started that practice or provide clearer answers on why they did it.

A pair of lawmakers have introduced legislation to end a tax break that favors foreign-controlled insurers over U.S. insurers.

The largest single variable in housing tax credit pricing is a function of the Community Reinvestment Act’s investment test value of a given property’s location, according to a new report.

Lois Lerner, the mid-level Internal Revenue Service official at the center of a controversy over the agency’s scrutiny of small-government groups, will invoke her constitutional right not to testify before Congress, according to a letter from her lawyer.

A group of CPAs headed to Capitol Hill yesterday in what has become an annual ritual as they pressed lawmakers to deal with the many issues that accountants and their clients are forced to wrestle with on a daily basis, including taxes and regulations.

Douglas Shulman, the former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, said he was “dismayed” and “saddened” to learn that IRS employees had singled out small-government groups for tougher scrutiny.

Following the massive tornado in Oklahoma, the IRS has provided tax relief to individuals and businesses affected by this and other severe storms occurring in parts of that state.

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, has held that a one-time U.K. windfall tax paid by the subsidiary of a U.S. corporation is creditable against U.S. income tax.

Updated statistics from the IRS show continued growth in e-filing of returns.

A trio of lawmakers in Congress have introduced a bill in the House that would modify the definition of fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to make clear that appraisers of employee stock ownership plans are not fiduciaries under ERISA.

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook will face off against U.S. senators leveling accusations the iPhone maker has created a web of offshore entities to avoid paying billions of dollars in U.S. taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Large Business & International division and its Wage and Investment division have teamed up to create a discovery tool for taxpayers with international filing requirements.

The Internal Revenue Service said it would refund fees collected for registered tax return preparer tests that were canceled due to a court injunction.