Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service has been seriously pursuing reduction of the tax gap associated with unreported foreign assets and income for a few years now. The effort has included efforts to secure information from foreign banks, credit card issuers, tax return disclosure and voluntary disclosure by taxpayers.

SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVES TAX PATENT BAN

While efforts at tax reform seem to crop up at fairly regular intervals in Washington — and just as routinely fail to produce any results — the current effort under President Obama has generated enough optimism that some are already attempting to pick potential winners and losers.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun conducting a survey examining the risks associated with electronic tax preparation and filing to gain information on taxpayer data protection practices.

Refunds totaling more than $1.1 billion may be waiting for nearly 1.1 million people who did not file a federal income tax return for 2007, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

A group calling itself US Uncut organized a series of protests over the weekend at Bank of America branches across the country to protest large corporations with unpaid income taxes.

Responding to press reports that the Obama administration is considering hitting small business with more tax hikes, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, called on the White House to take these tax increases off the table that threaten to “destroy the economic recovery our nation deserves.”

The Internal Revenue Service is allowing U.S. citizens and residents who also live in Haiti and the Ivory Coast to exclude their foreign earned income and housing costs from their 2010 gross income even if they don’t meet the normal eligibility requirements.

The House has tentatively scheduled a vote on legislation that would repeal the expanded 1099 information reporting requirements passed by Congress last year.

Whether or not the Obama administration budget proposal to add some clarity to worker classification sees the light of day, the employee vs. independent contractor issue will surely be undergoing increased scrutiny.

H&R Block said Thursday that the IRS’s inability to accept certain tax return filings prior to Feb. 14 led to changes in taxpayer filing patterns this year, with a delayed start to tax season, and declines in the number of tax returns prepared through Jan. 31.

Senators Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., have introduced a bill that would require the Internal Revenue Service to collect unpaid federal income taxes from civilian federal employees.

The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday that it is making major changes to its tax lien process in an effort to help struggling taxpayers get a fresh start with their tax liabilities.

The Internal Revenue Service has provided guidance on the federal tax consequences of payments made to homeowners under programs established for the hardest hit housing markets, along with the necessary information reporting requirements.

The Internal Revenue Service has given tax-exempt organizations that operate one or more hospital facilities three months’ extra time to file their 2010 Form 990, and said they should actually not file the form until July 1, 2011.

President Obama visited Cleveland to talk with small business leaders about their concerns.

A tax credit that is supposed to help poverty-stricken communities is instead being used to finance at least two luxury hotels, an antique car museum, a small theater in an upscale neighborhood, and other dubious projects, while lining the pockets of wealthy banks and investors.

The Internal Revenue Service has granted transitional relief from the penalties imposed by recent information reporting requirements that apply to stock issuers when an organizational action affects the basis of the stock.

The Senate approved a bill Thursday night that both modernizes the Federal Aviation Administration’s technology and includes a provision that repeals the health care reform bill’s expanded 1099 information reporting requirements.

Many of the millions of people with disabilities may be paying more in taxes than necessary, according to a disability insurance service provider.