Tax practice

A Jersey City school teacher has been arrested by special agents working for the IRS’s Criminal Investigation division after he was charged with allegedly preparing fraudulent income tax returns for clients and failing to report some of the income he earned from preparing tax returns.

It’s been said that you can’t tell the players without a scorecard. Where I need a scorecard is to figure out which tax provisions expired at the end of 2011, and those slated to give up the ghost at the end of 2012. Luckily, the Joint Economic Committee has a Web site that lists all of the expiring provisions of recent memory, together with the dates they expired or will expire.

The House has approved Republican-backed legislation to provide a tax cut of up to 20 percent for one year to companies with fewer than 500 employees.

Internal Revenue Service and Treasury officials faced questions from Congress on Thursday over how well the IRS is responding to taxpayer identity theft concerns and efforts to close the growing tax gap.

Budget cuts at the Internal Revenue Service are taking a toll on the agency’s ability to safeguard against identity theft and close the tax gap, according to the head of the employees union.

An economist has been charged with evading payment of approximately $500,000 in income taxes over a 22-year period, citing religious objections.

The large differences in excise tax rates for various smoking products are prompting consumers with a tobacco habit to shift their smoking habits to pipes and larger cigars, according to a new government study.

Financial executives in the medical device industry say the new excise tax included in the health care reform law will take a major impact on reducing their bottom line, according to a new survey by KPMG.

Out-of-work job seekers may be surprised when they find that IRS records show they not only already have work but are due a refund.

With Democrats and Republicans in Congress battling over competing tax legislation this week, one new bill should be able to attract bipartisan support.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations and guidance on reporting interest paid to nonresident aliens, along with a revenue procedure listing the countries with which the U.S. has a bilateral exchange of information agreement.

Agents at the IRS’s Criminal Investigation division have been cracking down on tax preparer fraud in Southern California in the waning days of tax season.

The Internal Revenue Service warned on Tax Day that it can assess a penalty if taxpayers fail to file or pay taxes, or both.

Senate Republicans blocked a bill promoted by the Obama administration that would impose a minimum tax on millionaires.

The Internal Revenue Service delayed tax refunds early this filing season for 7.8 million tax returns, according to a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which also described steep cutbacks in customer service at the IRS.

The New York State Society of CPAs has written a letter to the Internal Revenue Service asking the IRS to clarify several rules governing the reporting of foreign financial assets.

President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans square off this week over tax hikes for millionaires and tax cuts for businesses, with both sides seen as more interested in scoring political points than in fixing the tax code or shrinking the deficit.

While every state offers tax incentives to attract, retain and expand businesses and jobs, few states actually provide good evidence that the tax breaks deliver an effective return on investment, according to a new report.

Global tax services firm Ryan has filed suit in a federal court in Washington against Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman challenging Circular 230 provisions governing contingency fee arrangements.

The Internal Revenue Service is now giving tax professionals a priority phone number they can call when their clients are undergoing a Campus Correspondence Examination audit.