Tax practice

The release of tax returns of presidential candidates has again brought popular media coverage of the issue of what is reasonable compensation for S corporation shareholders.

KPMG BUYS INDIRECT TAX BIZ FROM THOMSON REUTERS

If FATCA isn't keeping you awake at night, it should be, according to practitioners. Ditto for FBAR.

Every business owner knows the drill: We made a profit this year so we need to spend our cash to save on taxes. I want to challenge you to think differently this year to “save cash,” not “save taxes.”

The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs conducted a two-week-long enforcement sweep of tax preparers across the city and issued violations to one out of every three preparers it inspected, mainly for violating laws governing refund anticipation loans and disclosure of their true qualifications and fees.

The Internal Revenue Service disallowed nearly $1.6 billion in erroneous First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credits, but could have flagged even more, according to a new government report.

Now that the payroll tax cut extension is safely out of the way, the latest tax legislation gambit in Congress appears to be a tongue-in-cheek effort to provide an annual $250 tax deduction for people with mustaches.

The American Institute of CPAs told the Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board at a hearing Tuesday that the IRS needs to improve its correspondence audit program to lessen the burden on taxpayers.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is allowing some extensions and exemptions to its new requirements that all FineCEN reports be filed electronically starting July 1, 2012, while pushing back the requirement for mandatory e-filing of FBAR reports until June 30, 2013.

The Internal Revenue Service is taking steps to discourage tax preparers and other taxpayer representatives from dropping off completed tax returns at its local Taxpayer Assistance Centers instead of mailing or electronically filing them.

A Silicon Valley-based CPA is warning taxpayers and their accountants to begin planning for the tax increases that are set to take effect next year unless the current tax rates are extended by Congress and President Obama.

The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 may be the last piece of tax legislation we’ll see this year.

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has released an updated set of proposals for cutting taxes.

Tax refunds amounting to over $1 billion are awaiting an estimated 1 million people who still have not filed a federal income tax return for 2008.

The Internal Revenue Service released a revised Form 941 on Thursday to allow employers to properly report the newly extended payroll tax cut, which has now been extended through the end of the year.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided in a 6-3 opinion that a married pair of Japanese immigrants could be deported from the U.S. because of tax felony convictions.

President Obama has signed into law an extension through the end of the year of the payroll tax cut, unemployment benefits, and the so-called “doc fix” to prevent Medicare physician reimbursement rates from plunging.

A tax attorney is warning taxpayers with severe disabilities and their preparers to be careful with how they report lump sum Social Security disability payments on their income tax returns this season.

President Barack Obama launched a dialogue with corporate America on Wednesday over business tax reform, offering his first clear plan to cut the corporate tax rate, with little prospect of it becoming law in an election year.

The Obama administration unveiled a set of proposals for business tax reform on Wednesday aimed at lowering the corporate tax rate to 28 percent from a high of 35 percent, while eliminating dozens of tax loopholes and subsidies.