Tax practice

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The Senate was unable to produce enough votes to end debate on two amendments that would have repealed or scaled back the expanded 1099 reporting requirements for businesses in the health care reform bill.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

Investor confidence in the U.S.capital markets declined slightly, but fell even more sharply for marketsoutside the U.S., according to a new survey by the Center for Audit Quality.

The Internal Revenue Service has helmed a new video series, “Your Guide to an IRS Audit,” which follows three hypothetical small business taxpayers step-by-step through the audit process.

President Obama is proposing to expand and simplify the permanent research and experimentation tax credit, increasing the rate of the simpler form of the credit 17 percent to simplify the process for businesses.

President Obama has not yet formally unveiled his plans for stirring up the sleeping job market through business tax breaks and infrastructure spending, but his ideas are already provoking skepticism.

The Internal Revenue Service has released a draft version of the form that small businesses and tax-exempt organizations will use to calculate the small-business health care tax credit when they file tax returns next year.

The National Society of Accountants has written to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the Internal Revenue Service urging them not to agree to calls by the American Institute of CPAs to exempt non-signing preparers at CPA firms from the IRS’s new tax preparer registration requirements.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation division is reportedly examining the books of the former Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, which lost its affiliation with the national Planned Parenthood last Friday amid questions about the group’s financial administration.

President Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech Wednesday in which he will reportedly propose a series of business tax cuts, along with new infrastructure spending.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued guidance on the purchases of over-the-counter medicines and drugs with flexible spending arrangements and health savings accounts next year in light of the changes in the health care reform bill.

A jury has entered a guilty verdict against a former BDO Seidman partner who advised a client on how to include false items on his joint income tax returns for three years in a row.