Tax practice

President Barack Obama lowered his tax revenue demand by $200 billion and offered to start tax rate increases at $400,000 in income instead of $250,000, moving closer to a budget deal with House Speaker John Boehner.

The Internal Revenue Service has published amended temporary Repair vs. Capitalization regulations to incorporate the changes announced in the recent Notice 2012-73.

The Internal Revenue Service said its Central Authorization File system, which helps power its Transcript Delivery Service and Disclosure Authorizations systems, will be unavailable from December 26 through January 2.

House Speaker John Boehner offered to raise income tax rates on households earning more than $1 million a year in exchange for containing the cost of federal entitlement programs, as part of a deal with President Barack Obama to cut the federal deficit, according to two people familiar with the talks.

The IRS said that it issued more than nine out of 10 refunds to taxpayers in less than 21 days last year, and expects the same results in 2013.

As talks drag on between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, many business leaders believe there will not be an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff before the end of the year, according to a new poll by KPMG.

States are creating fiscal risks for themselves by neglecting to control the costs of tax incentives for economic development, according to a new report from the Pew Center on the States.

The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday that low- and moderate-income workers can take steps now to save for retirement and earn a special tax credit in 2012 and the years ahead.

The Internal Revenue Service has given businesses an extra year to make sure they are compliant with new rules on how to treat service charges.

Republicans in Congress hardened their resistance to President Barack Obama’s proposed higher taxes for top earners and demanded a spending-cut plan, as lawmakers in both parties said it’s becoming less likely an agreement can be enacted before the Christmas holiday.

With less than 30 days left in 2012, there is still time to do some year-end tax planning. This 2012 tax year is more difficult in that no one knows how the tax laws may change before the end of the year.

President Barack Obama reduced his demand for tax increases to $1.4 trillion from $1.6 trillion as he and House Speaker John Boehner traded another round of offers and inched toward a budget agreement.

Billionaire investors Warren Buffett and George Soros are calling on Congress to increase the estate tax as lawmakers near a decision on tax policies that expire Dec. 31.

Former U.S. Congressman Wester Cooley was sentenced to a year and a day in prison following his guilty plea last year to hiding $494,000 in income from the Internal Revenue Service.

A recent Gallup survey found eight in 10 Americans consider it extremely or very important that Congress and President Obama agree on a plan to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff — automatic budget cuts and the expiration of Bush-era tax increases set for Jan. 1.

After a Sunday meeting between President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, their staff members reportedly continued negotiations Monday on how to avoid the fiscal cliff.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a revenue procedure that said certain losses do not need to be taken into account in determining whether a transaction is considered a “reportable transaction.”

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a pair of cases challenging the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and of California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, and the cases could have tax ramifications.

Google Inc. avoided about $2 billion in worldwide income taxes in 2011 by shifting $9.8 billion in revenues into a Bermuda shell company, almost double the total from three years before, filings show.

CCH has issued a new tax briefing explaining the Internal Revenue Service’s proposed regulations on the Additional Medicare Tax and Net Investment Income Tax that will take effect in January as a result of the health care reform law.