Tax practice

(Bloomberg) Any congressional effort to overhaul the U.S. Tax Code should make deficit reduction a priority, instead of cutting high-income Americans’ tax rates, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said.

The IRS is reportedly fine-tuning its procedures for collecting and releasing preparers’ personal information gathered during Preparer Tax Identification Number registration.

CCH has released a new Tax Briefing: 2012 Year-End Tax Planning to provide guidance and analysis on potential tax rate changes, the anticipated expirations of Bush-era tax cuts, post-election tax triggers and other scenarios.

IMGCAP(1)]Acquisition transactions come in all shapes and sizes. Some take place at seemingly breakneck speed, while others are the result of months of thoughtful planning.

The Internal Revenue Service has given a $2 million reward to a whistleblower who exposed an alleged tax avoidance scheme by an Illinois tool maker that cost the U.S. Treasury hundreds of millions of dollars.

With one debate already in the books, we’re not really any closer to knowing what taxes will be in the books, or not, come January. In fact, when the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, we may still need a crystal ball to tell us in what direction we are headed.

Liberty Tax Service will offer tax preparation services in more than 300 Walmart stores in tax season 2013.

President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney traded barbs about tax policy and how they would control the budget deficit, with Romney telling Obama at one point that he might need to get a new accountant.

The IRS Electronic Management System located at the Enterprise Computing Center in Martinsburg, W.Va., will be unavailable from Saturday, October 6, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, through Tuesday, October 9, at 5:00 a.m. Eastern. This will affect individual, business, and state returns processed at this EMS.

A former Internal Revenue Service official was arrested and charged with illegally exposing the identity of a whistleblower who reported tax compliance problems by an international bank to the IRS.

A new audit report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration indicates that the IRS is not efficiently or effectively processing information referrals, including identity theft claims.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division needs to make sure its special agents are taking and passing required firearms training, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service has agreed with Sears to provide tax prep services in most Sears locations nationwide starting in January.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the chief financial officer of a Minnetonka-based computer networking device manufacturer with illegally diverting company funds to cover his own personal expenses and other employees’ non-business entertainment expenses.

A report by the Treasury General for Tax Administration has found that IRS revenue officers did not always involve taxpayers’ representatives appropriately in taxpayer interactions during the collection process.

Income acceleration techniques for 2012 year-end planning

Highlights in tax from the previous month

Estate planning strategies for confusing times

In an election season where taxes spark debate among all political camps, much of the dialogue has been focused on corporate tax rates impacting U.S. businesses.

The U.S. Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service are working to head off identity theft aimed at stealing people’s tax refunds when the filing season begins in January, the government’s top tax prosecutor said.