Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service has signed a $6.25 million contract with the SAS Institute to use the company’s analytical software to help it identify tax evasion and fraud as part of the agency’s Return Review Program.

CCH has given users of the Comtax system access to its World Tax Treaties information through CCH’s IntelliConnect research service.

Even though the deadline has passed for taxpayers with foreign bank accounts to voluntarily step forward and disclose them to the IRS, it still makes sense to do so.

The American Institute of CPAs told the Internal Revenue Service at a hearing Thursday that it supports the agency’s overall goal of changing the U.S. tax system to one that matches tax return filings in real time with information returns from third parties.

Over half the financial professionals in a new survey said that tax increases should not be taken off the table in order for Washington to reach a deficit reduction agreement.

The Internal Revenue Service is preparing a legislative proposal for Congress to expand its tax levy authority to include additional income sources, such as rental income and non-employee compensation.

Nearly half of senior executives favor changing how corporate income earned outside the United States is taxed, according to a new survey, although many don’t expect much progress on the issue of corporate tax reform before the 2012 elections.

Sixty-eight of the most consistently profitable Fortune 500 companies paid no state corporate income tax in at least one of the last three years, and 20 of the companies averaged a tax rate of zero or less from 2008-2010.

The Internal Revenue Service did not always follow the strict purchasing regulations required under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 when it spent the funds it received from the economic stimulus law, according to a new government report.

The Senate and the House’s tax-writing committees held a rare joint hearing on reforming the tax treatment of financial products such as derivatives.

The Internal Revenue Service outlined the standards Tuesday for becoming an IRS-approved continuing education provider and accrediting organization.

The Internal Revenue Service has been doing a better job of auditing small corporations in recent years, according to a new government report, but potential quality concerns remain.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., offered Monday to compromise on how to pay for the payroll tax cut extension in an effort to convince more Republican lawmakers to vote for the bill.

Online sales tax collections would help states manage their budget problems, but could impose heavy burdens on small online merchants, executives from Internet and brick-and-mortar businesses told a congressional committee.

A new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development finds the gap between rich and poor in OECD countries has reached its highest level in more than 30 years, and the traditionally redistributive effects of progressive income tax systems have become less effective since the mid-1990s.

The Internal Revenue Service has reportedly backed away from plans to heavily penalize U.S. citizens and dual citizens living in Canada who may not have paid all of their taxes.

Senate Democrats and Republicans were unable to muster the necessary number of votes to pass two competing bills to extend the expiring payroll tax cut on Thursday night.

For those who had hoped that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, aka the Supercommittee, would find a way to reduce the deficit, the announcement that they had failed to reach an agreement came as a disappointment.

The National Society of Accountants has found that the cost of preparing an itemized tax return averaged $233 across the country, but there was still variation in different parts of the country.

The National Society of Accountants is recommending that tax preparers not rush to sign up for the Internal Revenue Service’s upcoming tax preparation compliance exams.