Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service said the cost-of-living adjustments affecting the dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement- related items for tax year 2011 will mostly remain unchanged, except for a few small inflation adjustments.

The Internal Revenue Service has started accepting taxpayer records in electronic format from small businesses using Intuit’s QuickBooks and Sage’s Peachtree accounting software for audits and examinations.

The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, a federal advisory committee of 101 citizen volunteers across the country, has released its annual report, with recommendations that include calling for the IRS to protect against identity theft by allowing taxpayers to “lock” their accounts when no tax returns are required.

The Internal Revenue Service’s comparative study of its private debt collection program was not designed soundly enough to support its decision to discontinue contracting out debt collection to private companies, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman indicated that the IRS is continuing to refine its new requirements for tax preparer registration, testing and continuing education, and announced that the IRS would waive the requirement for continuing education in the first year of implementing the new program, as well as set up a new office at the IRS dedicated to tax return preparers.

Businesses that have developed complex networks of related trusts and partnerships to evade taxes are making it difficult for the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to close the tax gap, according to a new government report.

The Internal Revenue Service released information Tuesday on the procedures that foreigners and U.S. citizens without a Social Security number because of religious objections can use to register as tax preparers.

A federal judge has ruled in favor of Amazon.com after the Seattle-based e-commerce giant sued to stop the North Carolina Department of Revenue from collecting personally identifiable information about its customers that could be linked to their purchases.

Craig Shaber, a practicing attorney from San Diego, has pleaded guilty to tax evasion in a case involving a series of shell companies that he set up with an accountant who pleaded guilty last year.

Nearly half the senior executives polled in a recent survey said they are most concerned about the prospect of providing a concise description of the uncertain tax positions of their companies to comply with the Internal Revenue Service’s new disclosure requirements.

The Justice Department has dismissed tax fraud charges against UBS after the Swiss bank complied with a deferred prosecution agreement that it signed last year.

President Barack Obama accused the Republican leadership in Congress of vowing to repeal the financial reform bill as the midterm elections approach next week.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun sending notifications to approximately 1 million tax return preparers to remind them that they must renew their Preparer Tax Identification Numbers if they are still paid preparers, and posted videos on YouTube in English, Spanish and American Sign Language.

Volunteers who prepare income tax returns at the Internal Revenue Service’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program sites improved their accuracy during the 2010 filing season, according to a new report that found a 90 percent accuracy rate, compared to only 59 percent a year ago.

Recently issued proposed regulations on domestic series limited liability companies should help give taxpayers and their advisors a bit more confidence in using series LLCs as a method of dividing a business venture into a variety of units to accomplish a variety of objectives.

IRS PRIVATE LETTER RULINGS SHOULD GO OUT FASTER

It’s been five years since Connie Mack, as chair of President Bush’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, said that it would “take a fresh look at the existing Tax Code and will formulate options for making the tax system simple, fair and productive.

Vice President Joe Biden indicated that the White House could be ready to make a deal with Republicans on expanding the level of income that would qualify for the Bush tax cuts extension.

Tax forms and other government documents will now be subject to a kind of literacy test, under a new government law that so far has not attracted a whole lot of attention.

Lambda Legal has published a short guide aimed at tax professionals and California’s registered domestic partners explaining the consequences of a significant shift in federal tax policy as they file their tax returns for 2010.