Tax practice

With lawmakers under pressure to find ways to reduce the deficit while avoiding the more painful spending cuts in the sequester, the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing to examine how to reduce the deficit by eliminating wasteful spending in the Tax Code.

The Internal Revenue Service reminded practitioners that they should not include advertisements for their services when sending out W-2 forms.

Taxes are increasingly spreading beyond national and state borders to make more of a global impact, affecting economic activity across the world.

Delays in implementing a computer security tool resulted in the lack of continuous monitoring for security issues on employee workstations at the Internal Revenue Service, according to a new report.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit is issuing a stern warning to New Jersey tax preparers as it cracks down on preparers who falsify tax returns, while cautioning taxpayers to choose preparers carefully.

More than one in 10 Americans think it’s OK to cheat on their taxes -- but that’s one of the lowest percentages ever recorded, according to the 2012 Taxpayer Attitude Survey, which was just released by the IRS Oversight Board.

The Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday that its Modernized e-File Production system is taking longer to generate federal acknowledgments for tax return filings.

Switzerland’s oldest bank, Wegelin & Co., has been sentenced and ordered to pay the U.S. government approximately $58 million for conspiring with its U.S. clients and others to evade income taxes in the first-ever such sentence for a foreign bank.

The Internal Revenue Service said that budget sequestration would require reductions in refundable credits for certain tax-exempt bonds and the refundable portion of the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit for some small tax-exempt employers.

Former Jenkens & Gilchrist lawyer Donna Guerin was sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to pay $190 million for her role in what the U.S. called the largest criminal tax fraud in history.

The Internal Revenue Service said Monday that its systems are operational for all remaining individual and business tax returns.

Ernst & Young LLP has agreed to pay $123 million to resolve a federal tax shelter investigation while admitting wrongful conduct by certain E&Y partners and employees.

President Obama said that he hoped to work with members of both parties in Congress to stop the damaging impact of the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts that officially began on Friday.

The Internal Revenue Service today announced that interest rates will stay the same for the quarter beginning Apr. 1, 2013.

The Internal Revenue Service has postponed until Oct. 15, 2013, the deadline to make an election to deduct losses for the preceding taxable year from Hurricane Sandy.

In the Internal Revenue Service's continuing efforts to close the tax gap by ferreting out overseas income of U.S. citizens and residents, the IRS recently rolled out further guidance on the requirements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

Highlights from the world of tax in the previous month

A former IRS commissioner examines the prospects for change

The number one concern of leading business tax executives for the year ahead is that in light of the current political and fiscal environment, Congress will enact revenue offsets to fund other legislative initiatives rather than make the U.S. tax system more competitive.

The budget sequester in Washington, D.C., could prompt furloughs of up to a week for Internal Revenue Service employees starting this summer if Congress is unable to reach a deal to avert the automatic spending cuts that are scheduled to begin on Friday.