Tax practice

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told a Senate panel that the Obama administration plans to introduce a series of proposals to reform the corporate tax laws.

After months of wrangling, congressional leaders appear to be close to a deal on extending the payroll tax cut, unemployment benefits, and the so-called “doc fix” for Medicare physician reimbursements through the end of the year.

Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., the ranking Democratic member on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, introduced legislation Tuesday to tax the carried interest earned by hedge fund managers, private equity firm partners, venture capitalists and others at the same tax rates as ordinary income.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has further extended the filing deadline for filing foreign bank account reports for certain financial professionals who have only signature authority over the accounts.

The Internal Revenue Service has released a set of proposed regulations expanding the list of tax return preparers who may obtain and renew a Preparer Tax Identification Number.

President Barack Obama's 2013 election-year budget took investors by surprise with a call for significantly higher taxes on dividends, a major change from his earlier tax proposals and one that will raise the ire of dividend-paying companies.

The Obama administration has increased its budget request for the Internal Revenue Service for fiscal year 2013 to approximately $12.8 billion to make up for recent budget cuts.

The Internal Revenue Service has released guidance to enable partnerships to submit the Schedule K-1 electronically to partners.

The Treasury Department has released its “greenbook” outlining the tax proposals in the Obama administration’s fiscal 2013 budget.

President Obama called for tax reform measures Monday to cut the budget deficit by $1.5 trillion in his fiscal year 2013 budget.

The Internal Revenue Service said Monday it is extending the time period for commenting on guidance it has issued pertaining to the application of the general welfare exclusion to Indian tribal government programs.

A former Internal Revenue Service employee has been sentenced to 105 months in prison and ordered to pay $30,649 in restitution after pleading guilty to identity theft and theft of government property.

The Internal Revenue Service has redesigned its educational Web site for tax-exempt organizations, with a new look and improved navigation.

The Internal Revenue Service offered advice to taxpayers and preparers about a new form they will need to use to report most capital gains and losses from transactions relating to investment property.

The Internal Revenue Service has informed a small business advocacy group that it will not require businesses to reconcile their gross receipts with the merchant card transactions reported on the new 1099-K information reporting form.

Swiss bank UBS sought to distance itself from a U.S. investigation of rival Swiss private banks on Thursday, saying that it did not hand over data on rival banks directly to U.S. officials when it settled a U.S. crackdown on taxpayers holding secret offshore accounts two years ago.

The Internal Revenue Service is reminding tax preparers that they need to complete 15 hours of continuing education, starting this year, under new requirements, and has posted a list of approved providers.

The IRS effort to combat identity theft couldn’t have come at a better time. With the IRS closing in on its goal of 80 percent e-filed returns (aided in part by the e-filing mandates on return preparers), the last thing it needs is a decline in confidence in the system. Yet that’s just what has happened, according to a survey commissioned by tax software developer Taxsoftware.com.

The Internal Revenue Service has released guidance and forms that can be used to claim a recently expanded tax credit for employers who hire veterans, with newly streamlined certification requirements.

The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on the interaction of tax and financial accounting rules on tax reform.