Tax practice

The IRS takes a closer look at local lodging expenses

Highlights of the previous month in tax.

As Jan. 1, 2013, approaches, attention is turning once again to the estate tax and the form it should take. The current estate tax regime is set to expire at the end of the year.

There is often a disconnect between what a court directs a taxpayer to do and what is permitted under the Tax Code.

The House Ways and Means Committee has passed legislation repealing the tax on medical devices included in the health care reform law and allowing health savings account holders to pay for over-the-counter drugs without a prescription.

Amazon.com has struck a deal with the state of New Jersey to open two fulfillment distribution centers in the Garden State and to begin charging sales taxes to New Jersey residents by July 1, 2013.

Political gamesmanship in Washington is having a detrimental effect on federal tax planning.

The Internal Revenue Service has released guidance on the effective date of the $2,500 limit, as indexed for inflation, on salary reduction contributions to flexible spending arrangements for health expenses.

A man who claimed to be the governor of Alabama in its “original jurisdiction” has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for tax fraud.

The Internal Revenue Service is asking for public comments on whether it needs to change its guidance on the use of smart cards, debit cards, credit cards and other electronic media to provide pretax transportation fringe benefits.

New statistics from the Internal Revenue Service indicate that 20,752 taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 or more in 2009 had no U.S. income tax liability.

Ouch! In affirming a Tax Court decision that an accounting firm set up as a C corporation could not deduct consulting fees paid to entities controlled by the firm’s owners, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals statement of its decision cut to the quick: “That an accounting firm should so screw up its taxes is the most remarkable feature of the case.”

More electronically filed tax returns were processed this tax season by CCH electronic filing systems than ever before.

Certainty in the Tax Code has become even more important than a reduction in tax rates, according to a survey of 800 CFOs and senior financial executives in the U.S.

House Republicans said they plan to schedule a vote on extending the Bush tax cuts before August.

Senate Democrats and Republicans have failed to pass competing versions of legislation aimed at preventing federally subsidized student loan interest rates from doubling in July.

President Obama urged Congress to extend expiring tax credits for wind energy and other forms of clean energy.

The Tax Court, in a recent summary opinion, ruled that an individual did not have cancellation of debt income in the year that a collection agency issued him a Form 1099-C and stopped its automated collection efforts.

The Internal Revenue Service mistakenly sent out letters to some electronic filing providers advising them that they needed to contact the IRS in order to continue to participate in the e-file program.

A pair of influential senators are looking into the activities of a tax-exempt charity for disabled veterans after questions were raised about whether the group is actually spending the millions of dollars it has collected to help disabled veterans.