Tax practice

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.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to host the first of a series of public meetings next Thursday on its plans to create a “real-time tax system” that would provide immediate feedback on whether the information in a tax return matched the IRS’s records.

December represents one last chance to consider certain year-end tax strategies before the door closes on the amount of income, deductions and credits set for the year. Many traditional eleventh-hour techniques are applicable to this year-end 2011, with certain twists that recognize changes on the horizon for 2013. This column examines a handful of considerations especially useful to the individual taxpayer in these final weeks of 2011.

STATE TAX REVENUES CLIMB, LOCAL TAX MONEY SLIDES

Treating a worker as an independent contractor rather than an employee has its advantages, say tax experts.

December represents one last chance to consider certain year-end tax strategies before the door closes on the amount of income, deductions and credits set for the year. Many traditional eleventh-hour techniques are applicable to this year-end 2011, with certain twists that recognize changes on the horizon for 2013. This column examines a handful of considerations especially useful to the individual taxpayer in these final weeks of 2011.

STATE TAX REVENUES CLIMB, LOCAL TAX MONEY SLIDES

Treating a worker as an independent contractor rather than an employee has its advantages, say tax experts.

Senate Republicans are offering their own legislation to extend the payroll tax cut while avoiding an extra surtax on millionaires.

A New Jersey tax preparer was sentenced Wednesday to six months in prison for preparing false tax returns for numerous clients that resulted in an estimated tax loss to the federal government of between $30,000 and $80,000.

The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday that it has $153.3 million in undelivered tax refund checks waiting to be sent to 99,123 taxpayers across the country.