Tax practice

Getting tax prep clients to use your tax practice’s portals can be a serious challenge, but communicating the familiar benefits of portals is an excellent first step, according to accounting and tax technology expert Roman Kepczyk.

Evidence suggests that some medical device manufacturers are shifting the burden of the medical device excise tax directly to American hospitals and other health care providers, an industry association charges.

The Internal Revenue Service re-launched its annual outreach campaign Friday, in conjunction with community organizations, to promote awareness of the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., have introduced legislation that would expand an existing tax credit for hiring veterans to encourage further hiring while making it easier for business claim.

Tax preparers charge an average of $246 to prepare an itemized Form 1040 with a Schedule A and a state tax return, according to a survey by the National Society of Accountants.

The Republican chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Dave Camp, R-Mich., released a draft document Thursday proposing a series of tax reforms for various types of financial derivatives and other financial products, building on work done by his committee over the past two years.

President Obama nominated former prosecutor Mary Jo White as the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Internal Revenue Service is offering guidance on mortgage principal reductions in the federal government’s program for mortgage modifications for borrowers who have fallen behind on their payments.

The Internal Revenue Service said it will appeal a court’s ruling that it lacks the power to license tax preparers, a decision that might affect as many as 700,000 people who work on clients’ returns.

Four states have signed up for a new system aimed at combating the growing problem of identity theft-related tax fraud.

The majority of small businesses want a long-term solution to the debt ceiling so the U.S. can pay its bills and the issue does not repeatedly come up for votes in Congress, according to a new survey.

The Internal Revenue Service is asking for input on the acceptable standards it should put in place for electronic signatures.

The Internal Revenue Service provided advice to taxpayers Wednesday on dealing with the late opening of tax season on January 30 that could also prove helpful to tax preparers.

Unfortunately, recent events make fundamental tax reform, already a heavy lift, much less likely.

While Section 179D of the Tax Code expires at the end of 2013, opportunities exist in two areas: accelerating future projects into 2013 and reviewing projects dating back to Jan. 1, 2006 that resulted in energy savings.

The American Institute of CPAs has written to the leaders of Congress’s tax-writing committees asking them to expand the replacement period for property loss for taxpayers affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The Internal Revenue Service reported that audits of individuals topped 1 million in fiscal year 2012 for the sixth year in a row, a coverage rate of 1.03 percent of all tax returns filed, while audits in the upper income ranges remained substantially higher than other categories.

The Internal Revenue Service reacted Tuesday to the surprise ruling Friday by a federal judge striking down the IRS’s authority to regulate tax preparers, shutting down its Preparer Tax Identification Number registration system and its testing system for tax preparers.

Reactions among tax preparers to Friday’s court decision striking down the legality of the IRS RTRP mandate ranged from relief to recognition that the tax prep industry needs standards. But a survey of various tax prep-related groups on LinkedIn shows that the decision mostly raised questions.

In a stunning blow to the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to regulate the tax preparation profession, a federal judge struck down the IRS’s licensing requirements for tax preparers on Friday, including testing and continuing education.