Tax practice

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.

The IRS's new Taxpayer Secure Email Program turns out not to be so secure.

IMGCAP(1)]Tax season is here. If you or your clients are among the thousands of Americans who have overpaid their annual tax obligation, you can look forward to a refund from the federal government.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing Wednesday on the effectiveness of various tax incentives.

State and local governments saw their tax collections rise in the fourth quarter, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Small businesses are disproportionately affected by measures to close the tax gap—the difference between taxes owed and taxes paid—according to a new study by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy

The Internal Revenue Service should do a better job of safeguarding sensitive taxpayer information from improper disclosure when responding to requests from lenders, according to a new government report.

General Electric is a company that has long been known for innovation going back to the days of founder Thomas Alva Edison, but now some of its greatest innovations may be in the way it avoids paying corporate income taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued interim guidance to employers on the informational reporting requirements on each employee's annual Form W-2 of the cost of the health insurance coverage they sponsor for employees.

The Internal Revenue Service has provided guidance to tax preparers on the circumstances under which they can be exempted from the electronic filing mandate and mail paper copies of their clients’ tax returns instead.

The Internal Revenue Service increased its audits of high-income taxpayers last year by as much as 75 percent.