Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service has increased its battle against identity theft, creating a special section on its Web site dedicated to helping growing numbers of tax fraud victims.

The Internal Revenue Service said Monday that its electronic filing system is now open for business tax returns.

The Internal Revenue Service reopened its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program to encourage more taxpayers with assets in undeclared foreign bank accounts to come forward.

An Oregon accountant and tax preparer has been sentenced to 60 months’ probation and up to 180 days in a halfway house after he pleaded guilty to tax charges.

Retail giant Walmart will be providing free federal 1040EZ tax return filing through its partners H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt at more than 3,000 of its stores this tax season.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to finally release its re-engineered Transcript Delivery System on Monday, just in time for tax season.

The Internal Revenue Service has released the first update in five years to its estimates of the tax gap and found that the effort to reduce the amount of unpaid taxes owed by taxpayers has essentially not worked.

The Internal Revenue Service has extended innocent spouse relief to a greater number of taxpayers under newly proposed guidelines.

The Internal Revenue Service has increased its audits of taxpayers at upper-income levels.

With individual filing season underway, it’s questionable how many taxpayers are aware of their use tax obligations, and actually track their Internet purchases during the year in order to accurately report and pay them.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Appeals is already making initial preparations to deal with appeals from taxpayers as a result of various provisions of the health care reform law that are scheduled to take effect in the years ahead.

President Obama may have run afoul of the Constitution in using a recess appointment to appoint Richard Cordray as the director of the nascent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but the need for the bureau to take action has been growing.

While 2011 ended without many last-minute tax law changes aside from the payroll tax cut extension, taxpayers should still be aware of a number of changes.

The Internal Revenue Service opened the 2012 tax season on Wednesday by extending the tax-filing deadline until April 17.

A trio of Swiss bankers has been charged with conspiring to help with U.S. taxpayers hide more than $1.2 billion in assets from the Internal Revenue Service.

While all Preparer Tax Identification Numbers from last tax season expired on December 31, the Internal Revenue Service said its PTIN system would continue to accept renewals after the deadline.

H&R Block kicked off tax season Tuesday with a new service that allows its tax preparers and clients to meet in real-time via videoconference.

Year-end planning is now behind us. Many believe that the failure of the joint congressional committee to reach a deficit reduction agreement pushes fundamental tax reform off at least until after the 2012 elections. Some tax changes are still possible with respect to jobs promotion and extending expiring provisions, but those efforts will be primarily focused on 2012. So, what do we know now about what is new for the 2011 tax return filing season?

IRS E-FILING SYSTEM REMAINS ERROR-PRONE

There are more than 60 tax provisions that expired at the end of 2011, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.