Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service is reminding tax professionals that they must implement safeguards to protect taxpayer data.

Part I: Preparers share their favorite tips for promoting themselves during tax season

While the Internal Revenue Service has made progressing in addressing weaknesses in its information security controls and improving its internal control over financial reporting, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report that serious weaknesses remain that could affect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of financial and sensitive taxpayer data.

The Internal Revenue Service is seeking public comments on developing a model memorandum of understanding on transfer pricing issues between national tax authorities.

New York City officials are urging low-income and middle-class taxpayers to file their tax returns for free or low cost to claim their tax credits with one month to go in tax season, while cracking down on tax preparers.

The Tax Policy Center estimated Friday that the tax provisions of the budget plan introduced this week by House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would reduce tax revenues by $5.7 trillion over a 10-year period, requiring a corresponding amount of tax increases and/or spending cuts to keep it “revenue neutral,” or risk a substantial expansion of the budget deficit.

A coalition of charities has expressed concerns about a Senate budget proposal that could potentially place a limit on charitable deductions.

More than four out of 10 working Americans will have had an accountant prepare their taxes this year, primarily because they believe that that's the way to get the largest refund. More than half won't do their own taxes, instead going to an accountant, friend or family member.

The Internal Revenue Service has filed a sharply worded reply with a federal appeals court to a group of tax preparers who won rulings from a lower court striking down the IRS’s authority to regulate the tax preparation profession.

The IRS claims that refunds totaling just over $917 million may be waiting for an estimated 984,400 taxpayers who did not file a federal income tax return for 2009. The IRS estimates that half the potential refunds for 2009 exceed $500.

Everybody knows the danger of sending things inadvertently in an email. Beda Singenberger’s case shows you also have to be pretty careful when you mail things the old-fashioned way.

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee said Thursday they plan to begin developing a proposal for overhauling the nation’s Tax Code.

A majority of business leaders believe tax reform should be separated from reforms to government entitlement programs and deficit reduction, according to a new poll.

The Internal Revenue Service has found that changes in Form 8863, Education Credits, are delaying more than 600,000 tax returns, many of which appear to come from H&R Block.

A former Internal Revenue Service official has pleaded guilty to violating a criminal conflict of interest law and illegally disclosing confidential audit information while he was an IRS employee.

Ten multinational U.S.-based corporations, including Apple, Merck, Microsoft and Pfizer, each increased their foreign profits by $5 billion or more last year, continuing a trend in which U.S. corporations held more of their money in low-tax countries.

House Republicans and Senate Democrats are introducing competing budget plans with starkly different tax proposals.

The chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Dave Camp R-Mich., released a set of proposals Tuesday discussion draft aimed at reforming the tax laws for small businesses.

The Internal Revenue Service has programs that are supposed to improve its ability to identify taxpayers who represent a potential danger to IRS employees, but many IRS employees are unaware that such protections even exist, according to a new government report.

A federal court has denied for a second time H&R Block’s attempt to prevent Intuit from airing two TV commercials for TurboTax that poke fun at part-time tax preparers who work for retail tax chains like Block.