Tax practice

While we await the lame duck Congress to find out if and how much our taxes will rise next year, it might be well to remember that government — and the programs it loves to fund — will only keep growing until it runs out of funding. Hardly any government will willingly reduce programs, cut funding, or otherwise act within reasonable limits.

Mark Ernst, the former chairman and CEO of H&R Block who went on to become deputy commissioner for operations support at the Internal Revenue Service, will be leaving the IRS later this year, according to an announcement Thursday by IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.

Tax preparer Kertena Seabrook has been sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay $171,152 in restitution after she was convicted on 20 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns.

A senior executive of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone who is also a tax preparer has pleaded guilty to submitting false and fraudulent tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service and cashing approximately $250,000 in fraudulently obtained tax refund checks.

States and localities continued to raise their sales tax rates last quarter in order to generate more revenue to close their budget deficits, according to a new report.

With only weeks to go before next month’s game-changing midterm Congressional elections, the accounting profession is in position to make record-breaking contributions to the campaigns of key House and Senate candidates.

An Internal Revenue Service advisory committee has issued a report calling for a number of changes in the IRS’s information reporting rules, including the controversial provision in the health care reform bill that mandates expanded 1099 information reporting for businesses.

The tax debt relief industry is searching for loopholes in a Federal Trade Commission rule that could eliminate its main source of revenue.

A pair of U.S. senators has written to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman and the heads of a dozen other federal agencies asking why they have erected roadblocks to investigative efforts of their agencies’ watchdogs, their inspectors general.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service asking it to delay rules implementing provisions in the health care reform bill that would prohibit the use of debit cards, such as those used in flexible spending accounts and health reimbursement accounts, to buy over-the-counter prescribed medications.

Legendary economist Milton Friedman once joked that you could take any three letters from the alphabet, scramble them in any order you want, and you'll end up with an acronym for a federal agency we could do without.

H&R Block has filed suit against its refund anticipation loan provider, HSBC, seeking to require the bank to provide the funding for RALs and refund anticipation checks next tax season.

The Internal Revenue Service’s ability to process the growing number of Health Coverage Tax Credit claims under the 2009 stimulus bill is doubtful, leading to questions about the agency’s ability to handle its new responsibilities under the new health care reform law.

The worldwide decline in top personal income tax rates over the past seven years has come to an end, as this year’s average rate increased 0.3 percent globally.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to improve its ability to identify tax preparers who submit improper Earned Income Tax Credit claims, according to a new government report.

The Internal Revenue Service said it is delaying until further notice the renewal period for enrolled agents whose Social Security numbers or tax identification numbers end in 4, 5 or 6.

The Internal Revenue Service said that homeowners can deduct interest on up to $1.1 million in mortgage debt, $100,000 more than the previous limit of $1 million.

There may be some jobs tougher than beach master for the initial landing force at Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion, or Commissioner of Internal Revenue, but off-hand I can’t think of any. Both positions are intense, all-consuming, and attract a great deal of incoming fire. And Mortimer Caplin has done both.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued over 50,000 Preparer Tax Identification Numbers since opening its online registration system less than a month ago, but the system has experienced a number of birth pains, the IRS reported.

Some of the $203 million in stimulus funds provided to the Internal Revenue Service through last year’s Recovery Act are at risk of being misspent due to continued problems with contract oversight, according to a new government report.