Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service has published updated guidance on the circumstances under which tax disclosures are adequate to avoid penalties for taxpayers and preparers.

The Internal Revenue Service is aiming to provide more Fast Track Settlements to small businesses and self-employed taxpayers and retool its Offer in Compromise mediation and arbitration procedures.

The principal owner of The Kettle Black, a popular sports bar and restaurant in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $1.3 million in city and state sales taxes over a five-year period.

The Internal Revenue Service released more information Thursday on the implementation of the new Treasury regulations governing tax return preparers and the new requirements to obtain a Preparer Tax Identification Number, including those who work at CPA firms.

A pair of Long Island construction contractors have been sentenced to serve prison terms and ordered to pay restitution for engaging in payroll tax schemes.

The Senate extended two funding programs for small businesses carrying out innovative technology research on the final day of the lame duck session last week, but their fate in the House remains undecided.

The Internal Revenue Service should take immediate action to strengthen its controls over the processing of refunds issued to nonresident aliens to prevent such individuals from receiving erroneous refunds, according to a new government report.

As airline passengers around the country struggle to rebook flights in the wake of the blizzard that paralyzed the Northeast this week, the Internal Revenue Service has announced the 2011 inflation adjustments to the excise taxes on air transportation.

Employees at the Internal Revenue Service surveyed tax returns with Abusive Tax Avoidance Transaction issues without management approval, according to a new report.

White House officials said President Obama would delay delivery of his fiscal year 2012 budget by about one week after February 14.

The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters has issued a comprehensive analysis of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 on its Checkpoint research service.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said it could not render an opinion on the 2010 consolidated financial statements of the federal government, because of widespread material internal control weaknesses, significant uncertainties, and other limitations.

An Internal Revenue Service employee in New York has been charged with stealing over $160,000 in unclaimed tax refunds.

H&R Block shares fell Monday after it received notice from HSBC that the bank is immediately terminating refund anticipation loans and refund anticipation checks for Block as a result of a regulatory directive from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The Internal Revenue Service today issued new guidance Thursday allowing the continued use of flexible spending arrangement and health reimbursement arrangement debit cards for the purchase of prescribed over-the-counter medicines and drugs.

Personal exemptions and standard deductions will rise and tax brackets will widen due to inflation in 2011, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday.

Following last week’s tax law changes, the Internal Revenue Service announced Thursday the upcoming tax season will start on time for most people, but taxpayers affected by three recently reinstated deductions need to wait until mid- to late February to file their individual tax returns.

The Internal Revenue Service’s information security program is not fully effective, according to a new government report, even though it generally complies with the Federal Information Security Management Act.

The Internal Revenue Service said a one-year grace period for enforcing new security, privacy and business standards for online tax processors will be ending next week.

BNA Software has released a new version of its income tax-planning application to help the clients of accountants and tax practitioners plan around the changes in the tax cut extension law.