Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service is highlighting an online training module to help tax preparers avoid the recently increased penalty for failing to exercise due diligence when claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit.

The number of claims for the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit, which was included in the health care reform law as a way to help small businesses provide health insurance for their employees, has been much lower than anticipated, according to a new government report.

CCH provided advice on year-end tax strategies that, if implemented before a taxpayer’s liability is finalized, could make a significant difference in what they owe as tax year 2011 draws to a close.

Simon Property Group, the largest owner of shopping malls in the U.S., has filed suit against the state of Indiana in an effort to force the state to collect sales taxes from the online commerce giant Amazon.com.

The Internal Revenue Service has opened a new telephone help line for questions about foreign bank account reports.

Commissioner Doug Shulman has presided over the continued reorganization and modernization of the Internal Revenue Service since March 2008.

The Senate failed to advance an infrastructure jobs bill Thursday that would have been paid for through higher taxes on millionaires.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a notice exempting enrolled retirement plan agents from obtaining a Preparer Tax Identification Number if they only prepare Form 5300 and 5500 series returns.

A group of Democrats on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee has introduced a bill to extend federal unemployment insurance through 2012 and provide tax relief to employers in states with outstanding UI loans.

The 280 most profitable U.S. corporations are sheltering half their profits from federal income taxes, and 30 of them paid less than zero in the last three years, according to a new study.

Greatland, a provider of W-2 and 1099 tax information reporting software, has issued a guide to help tax preparers navigate the tax changes enacted into law this past year.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to do a better job of managing the credit cards used by employees in the IRS’s Small Business/Self-Employed Division when they are visiting gas stations to enforce fuel excise tax laws.

The Internal Revenue Service has provided special transitional relief to banks and other payment settlement entities required under a 2008 law to begin withholding 28 percent of payments if they are unable to verify a taxpayer identification number for a retailer.

The Internal Revenue Service increased the number of fraudulent tax refund claims it detected and stopped during the 2011 tax-filing season by 171 percent over the previous year.

A federal judge has ruled against H&R Block to prevent the tax prep giant from moving forward with its $287.5 million acquisition of 2SS Holdings, whose 2nd Story Software unit develops TaxAct software, after the Justice Department objected to the deal.

In an era of constantly changing tax laws where provisions expire annually and congressional tinkering is constant, the worker classification system - whether a worker should be treated as an employee or an independent contractor - has remained relatively unchanged for years. Yet that system has generated so much uncertainty that calls for reform have been continuous over the same period of time.

IRS TO BEGIN FINGERPRINTING SOME TAX RETURN PREPARERS

WASHINGTON, D.C.

As an accountant, I have a unique vantage point to observe how entrepreneurs change their decisions based on tax policy.

President Barack Obama pressed for passage of his jobs bill, promising a boost in the economy in exchange for higher taxes on the wealthy.