Tax practice

The Tax Court has denied a married couple a charitable contribution deduction for the value of a house they donated to a local fire department for training purposes.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to improve the testing of its new Customer Account Data Engine, according to a new report.

Court rulings explore when IRS regulations are due deference.

Highlights in tax news

Three bills before Congress could offer small businesses some tax help.

The House and Senate passed a highway bill Friday that contains provisions to prevent a doubling of the interest rates for subsidized Stafford student loans.

An outside advisory committee to the Internal Revenue Service is asking the agency to reinforce its standards for security, privacy and fraud prevention, including “phantom prepared” returns.

Well, now we know the answer. The individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which the Administration has variously said was a both a tax and not a tax, is, in fact, a tax. That’s what the Supreme Court has called it, as a reason for finding it constitutional.

The House Judiciary Committee’s Crime Subcommittee held a hearing Thursday on the growing problem of identity theft and income tax preparation fraud.

The Internal Revenue Service mails lien notices to taxpayers in a timely manner as required by law, but does not always follow its own regulations for notifying taxpayer representatives and processing undelivered lien notices, according to a new report.

Congressional Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee have introduced a pair of bills to extend the production tax credit for wind energy manufacturers through the end of 2013 and provide a 10 percent income tax credit for employer payroll increases this year.

The Supreme Court has upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

On the eve of the Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, a new report on the Internal Revenue Service’s readiness to handle some specific aspects of the law has been released.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson has identified the priority issues the Taxpayer Advocate Service will focus on during the upcoming fiscal year.

The Federal Housing Administration insured over $1.44 billion in mortgages for 6,327 borrowers with $77.6 million in federal tax debt who benefited from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Of these borrowers, 3,815 individuals claimed and received $27.4 million of First-Time Homebuyer Credits from the Recovery Act.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has a novel idea. Instead of allowing $500 billion of cuts in the defense budget to go forward as part of last year’s deficit reduction deal, he wants to use money saved from closing tax loopholes.

The Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday that its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs have exceeded the $5 billion mark and released new details on the latest iteration of the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program that began in January, including tightening the eligibility requirements.

The Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday that it plans to help U.S. citizens who reside in foreign countries, catch up with their tax-filing obligations and offer assistance to those with foreign retirement plans.

KPMG LLP has launched a new service, Operational Transfer Pricing, to help multinational companies better navigate the growing risks they face with intercompany transactions internationally.

Students and their families do not always select tax breaks that could help them afford the cost of college tuition, possibly because tax filers are unaware of their eligibility for the tax credit or deduction or are confused about their use, according to a government report.