Tax practice

As Washington moves closer to the brink of a federal government shutdown, the battle lines are already being set for the next budget turf war.

The Internal Revenue Service issued guidance Tuesday designating the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011 as a qualified disaster for federal tax purposes.

House Republicans issued their fiscal year 2012 budget plan, including a provision that would lower the top tax rates for individuals and corporations to 25 percent.

The Senate voted Tuesday to repeal the expanded 1099 information reporting requirements in last year’s health care reform and small business laws, sending the repeal to President Obama’s desk.

The Internal Revenue Service has published guidance for taxpayers in the telecommunications industry with the aim of resolving long-running tax disputes involving the capitalization and depreciation of network assets.

The Internal Revenue Service said Monday it is looking for nominations for its Information Reporting Advisory Committee, which provides outside advice on information reporting and administration issues.

The Internal Revenue Service reminded taxpayers and preparers Monday that they have only two weeks to go before the April 18 filing deadline.

Approximately half of U.S. taxpayers are uneducated about the risks of identity theft during tax season, according to a new survey, but the majority trust their tax preparers.

A pair of Republican lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee plan to formally request an IRS investigation of the AARP’s tax-exempt status, accusing the group of profiting from its health insurance business.

The Internal Revenue Service has offered guidance on the new 100 percent bonus depreciation in last year’s tax extension and small business legislation.

The House Ways and Means Committee has passed a bill that would limit tax breaks for health insurance policies that cover abortions.

When Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman recently announced a new round of collection initiatives to help taxpayers buffeted by the economic downturn, it was telling that he also promised that the new steps would be "revenue-neutral." Could it be that the IRS seems to be recognizing that you can't get blood from a stone and that some delinquent taxpayers simply can't pay, no matter what collection methods are used, while some others will be more likely to pay eventually if draconian short-term measures are not used?

IRS OVERHAULS LIEN SYSTEM

Taxpayers with undisclosed income from offshore accounts are under mounting pressure to come forward to the Internal Revenue Service.

Any move on tax reform should take into consideration what the European Union and various countries are doing with their tax systems, observed David Lifson, past president of the New York State Society of CPAs and a tax partner at Crowe Horwath.

The IRS has needed to deal with several challenges this tax filing season, including late tax law changes and an increase in the volume of telephone calls, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office, but to ensure that the IRS can adequately enforce certain tax provisions, Congress should provide the IRS with math error authority to use tax return information from previous years to ensure that taxpayers do not improperly claim credits or deductions in excess of lifetime limits where applicable.

The Internal Revenue Service has discussed, but not yet documented how it plans to develop its service and enforcement efforts to leverage the new paid preparer requirements to improve taxpayer compliance, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday they have extended the deadline beyond April 18 for filing a key tax form for people who died last year.

The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday that it plans to expand a six-year-old pilot program for assuring large corporations are complying with their tax obligations and make it permanent.

The American Institute of CPAs wants the Internal Revenue Service to work with small-business owners to safeguard the private data in electronic accounting software records that the IRS may request during an examination.