Tax practice

The majority owner of an accounting firm in Montvale, N.J., was sentenced Wednesday to six months in prison and six months of home confinement for failing to pay the IRS taxes that the firm withheld from its employees’ wages.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson told Congress that proposed budget cuts for the Internal Revenue Service could reduce taxpayer service and compliance.

The complexity of the federal Tax Code can engender errors and underpaid taxes, according to a new government study.

U.S.-based multinational corporations and their lobbyists are pushing hard for a so-called “tax holiday” that would repatriate the earnings from their foreign subsidiaries, arguing that it would inject up to $1 trillion into the U.S. economy, but the prospects for job growth are murky at best.

The National Society of Accountants has created a new social network for tax preparers.

California Governor Jerry Brown and Democratic lawmakers have struck a deal to close the state’s estimated $15 billion budget deficit, including provisions to force online retailers like Amazon.com to collect sales tax from customers.

A former client of the Swiss banks UBS AG and Wegelin & Co. has pleaded guilty to personal income tax evasion for hiding more than $26.4 million in secret bank accounts.

The Internal Revenue Service is reminding anyone who has a bank account or other financial account in a foreign country, or who has signature authority over such an account, that they may be required to report the account to the U.S. Department of the Treasury by June 30 each year.

Governments around the world are either increasing indirect taxes such as value-added taxes or introducing them for the first time.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations shortening the automatic extension time period for partnership, trust and estate tax returns from six to five months, meaning the returns are due Sept. 15.

The Internal Revenue Service’s financial management systems are unlikely to comply with federal laws at least until 2014, according to a new report.

Eight Democratic senators have written to the Internal Revenue Service urging the agency to address problems faced by same-sex couples while filing their 2010 federal income tax returns.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., has exited from negotiations over resolving the problem of the looming debt ceiling, saying he is unable to agree to any tax increases.

It looks as though the time has come for comprehensive patent reform, which includes the banning of tax strategy patents.

Four people associated with a Bronx tax preparation business have been charged with participating in a scheme to file fraudulent federal income tax returns using the identities of others and one has been accused of threatening IRS agents.

The Internal Revenue Service has increased the optional standard mileage rates for the final six months of 2011, in response to higher fuel prices.

Some of the 2,200 databases that the Internal Revenue Service uses to manage and process taxpayer data are not configured securely, are running out-of-date software, and no longer receive security patches, according to a new government report.

An accounting firm owner and former IRS employee was arrested and charged with running a mortgage fraud scheme involving fake buyers of homes.

At a recent hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman heard from senators that the agency ought to provide taxpayers with its own free online tax software.

The Internal Revenue Service has extended the filing due date for the 2009 and 2010 Form 8955-SSA, “Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants with Deferred Vested Benefits.”