Tax practice

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.

The Internal Revenue Service has selected 32 new members to serve on the nationwide Taxpayer Advocacy Panel.

The Social Security Administration warned in a letter to employees that it may have to furlough workers if proposed cuts to its budget are enacted into law.

We’ve been operating without a budget for the past year, and despite the budget proposal this week, it appears likely that we will continue to operate the government under a series of continuing resolutions.

The House Ways and Means Committee approved two separate pieces of legislation on Thursday to repeal the onerous 1099 reporting provisions enacted in 2010, with Republicans and Democrats sharply divided over how the bill would be paid.

The House Ways and Means Committee began markup work Thursday on two bills aimed at repealing the expanded 1099 information reporting requirements in the health care reform law and the Small Business Jobs Act.

IMGCAP(1)]The Minnesota Society of CPAs has released its list of the most outrageous tax deductions proposed by clients.

Nearly three quarters of nonprofit organizations are concerned that tax exemptions will be revoked in the next year or two, according to a new survey.

Before 2007, any part of a mortgage forgiven after a foreclosure, such as when the house was sold and the bank forgave a mortgage exceeding the home’s sale price, was considered taxable income, but that has changed now.

The Internal Revenue Service has requested that private sector transmitters of e-filed returns stagger their submission of returns over the course of this week, according to one industry group.

A watchdog group is calling on the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether members of Congress who sleep in their offices are violating House ethics rules and tax laws by failing to report lodging as a taxable fringe benefit.