Tax practice

Some taxpayers received multiple refunds for their First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit claims, while others changed the acquisition date of their homes on their amended returns to avoid having to repay the refunds they had improperly claimed, according to a new report.

A former special agent who worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Inspector General office has pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return that failed to list the $300,000 in cash he stole from his church’s collections while serving as a deacon.

The Internal Revenue Service paid fewer than 100 whistleblowers last year, about half the number it paid two years ago, even though it received more than twice the number of whistleblower cases.

The former head of Credit Suisse’s North America Offshore Banking unit has been charged along with three other officials with conspiring to help U.S. taxpayers hide their assets in secret accounts at the Swiss bank.

A tax preparer pleaded guilty in a New Jersey federal court to preparing false income tax returns after he was caught by an undercover IRS agent posing as a client.

Twenty-four percent of homeowners say they have challenged their property tax assessments at some point, according to a new survey.

The House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee plans to hold a hearing next Thursday on the Internal Revenue Service’s recent efforts to step up regulation of tax return preparers.

The IRS’s Taxpayer Advocate Service may be pursuing relatively minor issues instead of truly systemic problems, according to a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

The Internal Revenue Service is asking for feedback on its plans to update its rules for how its Office of Appeals should communicate with other parts of the IRS about taxpayer disputes without the taxpayers or their representatives in the room.

A federal appeals court has affirmed a Tax Court ruling in favor of a couple who had asked the Internal Revenue Service to sell their shares of stock to pay the money they owed for failing to report income from a check-cashing scheme.

Government entities that didn’t comply with the tax laws received different terms in the agreements they reached with the Internal Revenue Service to resolve their tax issues, according to a new report.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued letters denying tax-exempt status to three unidentified political groups that had applied for the exemption as Section 501(c)(4) groups.

The so-called “cut, cap and balance plan” legislation that passed the House would require the passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would mandate a two-thirds supermajority to approve any future tax increases.

A bipartisan group of senators that has been meeting on and off for months to hammer out a budget deficit reduction plan appears to have reunited and gained support on both sides of the aisle for a plan to reduce the budget deficit by $3.7 trillion over 10 years.

The Internal Revenue Service intends to stop authorizing the high-low per diem method for substantiating lodging, meal and incidental expenses that can be incurred when traveling away from home.

An estimated 32,552 taxpayers may have been harmed because the Internal revenue Service did not follow legal requirements to notify them and their representatives of their rights related to tax liens in a timely fashion, according to a new government report.

Senator Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has proposed a deficit reduction plan estimated to save $9 trillion over the next 10 years by slashing hundreds of government programs, but also increasing taxes in some areas.

The Internal Revenue Service is asking for comments on continuing education providers under its tax return preparer regulation program.

The New York State Society of CPAs told the Internal Revenue Service that its upcoming exam for non-CPA tax practitioners should include a section in which exam takers are asked to prepare a sample 1040 return.

Credit Suisse said it has become a target of a Justice Department investigation into its private banking business.