Tax practice

IMGCAP(1)]The Internal Revenue Service wants all paid tax preparers to register for a Preparer Tax Identification Number in time for next tax season, and is requiring many preparers to undergo continuing education and testing. But how much CPE is too much?

Changes to tax provisions in a bill providing health coverage for 9/11 emergency responders helped enable the legislation to pass Congress despite the opposition of some leading Republican lawmakers.

The Internal Revenue Service has released a new form that will allow tax preparers to request a hardship waiver to exempt them from the IRS’s new electronic filing requirements.

The Internal Revenue Service has prohibited tax preparers from electronically filing tax returns before it receives all W-2, W2G and 1099-R forms.

Congress has passed legislation exempting accountants from the Federal Trade Commission’s Red Flags Rule requiring businesses to implement a written identity theft protection program.

A UBS client in Seattle has pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return that did not disclose his holdings in secret Swiss bank accounts.

The Tax and Accounting Business of Thomson Reuters has enacted a series of enhancements to the platform supporting its NetClient CS client portals, SaaS for the CS Professional Suite, and Virtual Office CS.

Vice President Joe Biden said the administration would be better prepared to oppose the extension of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans when they expire in 2012.

Big Four firm Ernst & Young could be hit with fraud charges stemming from its alleged role in the collapse of banker Lehman Brothers, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Vice President Joe Biden indicated the Obama administration intends to limit the newly extended tax cuts when they come up again for renewal in 2012.

With just weeks to go before the end of the year, Congress has cleared tax relief legislation extending the Bush-era individual and capital gains and dividend tax cuts for all taxpayers for two years, as well as a 13-month extension of unemployment benefits.

The House approved an $858 billion extension of the Bush-era tax rates and unemployment benefits late Thursday night, a day after the Senate approved the bill, sending the bill to President Obama’s desk.

The modern era of tax return preparer administration began on Sept. 28, 2010.

Nonprofit charitable tax-exempt organizations filed 313,121 information returns for tax year 2007, according to new statistics released by the Internal Revenue Service, an increase of 4 percent from 2006.

Approximately 13.4 million taxpayers who received the Making Work Pay Credit that was included in the economic stimulus bill may end up owing taxes, according to a new government report.

The American Institute of CPAs has launched a new public service tax website to help taxpayers better understand how the federal tax system works and connect with a CPA for tax help.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., urged the Senate on Wednesday to pass legislation to eliminate the expanded 1099 reporting requirements for businesses in the health care reform bill.

The Senate has passed a package extending the Bush-era tax rates for two years along with a 13-month unemployment extension.

A federal judge’s decision striking down a key provision of the health care reform law, along with the near-certain repeal of the 1099 information reporting requirements in the law, indicate that President Obama’s signature achievement of the past year is likely to be chipped away in the years ahead before many of its provisions even take effect.

As the end of the year fast approaches, the Internal Revenue Service is strongly encouraging paid tax preparers to register now for their new or renewed Preparer Tax Identifications Numbers to avoid any last-minute rush.