Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Chief Counsel should improve the timeliness of the private letter rulings it issues and reduce the number of rulings issued, recommended a new government report.

The Treasury Department said that it has reached the milestone of processing its one-billionth electronic tax payment through its Electronic Federal Tax Payment System.

Positions have hardened on the subject of tax preparer registration and the proposed regulations slated to become final before the program of registering for preparer tax identification numbers begins.

A federal grand jury has indicted the owner and former owner of a Hawaiian car dealership, along with their CFO, accountant and others, for tax fraud.

The Senate approved legislation on Thursday that would provide $12 billion in tax breaks to small businesses, along with a $30 billion lending fund.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., introduced the latest version of the tax cuts extenders bill on Thursday in another effort to extend a large number of tax breaks that have either expired or are about to expire for individuals and businesses, including new incentives for companies to hire workers.

A federal agent has filed a declaration accusing a man of receiving $2.7 million in fraudulent income tax refunds using the names and identities of people listed with several state agencies.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to host a special nationwide open house on Saturday, Sept. 25, to help taxpayers — especially veterans and people with disabilities — solve tax problems and respond to IRS notices.

The Internal Revenue Service has released its first set of guidance on the newly codified economic substance doctrine.

Washington is preparing to do battle over the decade-old question of whether income tax cuts should be extended to taxpayers at the upper income scales.

The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters recently added several titles to Checkpoint, its research service with more than half a million users.

A bill providing $12 billion in tax breaks and a $30 billion lending fund for small businesses passed a key hurdle in the Senate on Tuesday when two Republican lawmakers voted to join Democrats to cut off debate.

The Senate was unable to produce enough votes to end debate on two amendments that would have repealed or scaled back the expanded 1099 reporting requirements for businesses in the health care reform bill.

A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., said Senate Republicans are uniformly opposed to letting the Bush tax cuts expire for even the wealthiest taxpayers.

The former CEO of the Quellos Group investment firm and its tax attorney pleaded guilty to running an offshore tax shelter scam involving more than $9.6 billion in phony stock sales.

The question, "What happens if the Bush tax cuts sunset?" may seem a little silly at first.

IRS TO CHECK MORE FOR ACCURACY-RELATED PENALTIES

The reality of the recession has affected the tax policies of nearly every state, as dwindling receipts coupled with constant or increased expenses have left most states in a budgetary crisis mode.

Although the pundits have already weighed in on theeconomic effects of the administration's latest proposals at improving jobs andinvestment, the specific legislation to enact the proposals faces hurdles,which will diminish the likelihood of an effect any time soon.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to improve itscapabilities to identify taxpayers who must repay tax credits for homes theypurchased under the First-Time Homebuyer Credit program, according to a newaudit report released by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.