Tax practice

The real estate developer who is trying to set up a controversial Islamic cultural center two blocks away from Ground Zero reportedly owes New York City over $224,270 in back property taxes for the location.

Z Street, a pro-Israel nonprofit organization, has filed a lawsuit in federal court charging that the IRS violated its First Amendment rights by delaying its application for tax-exempt status because the IRS allegedly needs to consider whether a group’s views on Israel differ from those of the current presidential administration.

The Justice Department has filed suit to stop a Pasadena man from promoting a tax fraud scheme involving sham pension contributions and welfare benefit plans.

While there may be some truth to the observation that August is a slow news month, the start of World War I in early August of 1914, as well as the deaths of both Elvis and Marilyn in August, qualify as exceptions. And for small to midsized CPA firms, the hearings earlier this week on tax preparer registration can be considered newsworthy, though perhaps slightly less eventful.

Taxpayers with complex tax dispute cases before the California State Board of Equalization were more likely to win their cases if they or their representatives made campaign contributions to the elected board members, either directly or through political action committees.

Vice President Joe Biden held a roundtable discussion with workers and small business owners at Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza, a local restaurant in Washington, D.C., that has benefited from the small business provisions in the Recovery Act, as he argued for passage of a bill that would provide tax breaks and a $30 billion lending fund for small businesses.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division showed signs of improvement in meeting its objectives for combating tax evasion, corporate fraud, financial crime and even terrorism, according to a new report.

IMGCAP(1)]As more people have become aware of the tax burden and unintended consequences resulting from the provision in the health care reform law mandating expanded Form 1099 information reporting, a consensus has been building to repeal this provision. The only current debate appears to be “how?”

The National Society of Accountants and the American Institute of CPAs testified before the Internal Revenue Service on the agency’s proposals for registering, testing and requiring continuing education for paid tax preparers.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to do more to ensure that tax-exempt political organizations fully report their contributions and expenditures to the IRS on time, according to a new government report.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, pushed for an extension of the Bush tax cuts on Tuesday, but questioned the need to pass over 70 other tax break extensions that failed to pass in the Senate in June.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has filed a $34 million lawsuit against TV’s “Tax Lady” Roni Deutch for orchestrating a "heartless scheme" that swindled thousands of people facing serious and expensive tax collection problems with the IRS.

The owner of an Anchorage accounting and tax prep business has been indicted on charges that she engaged in a scheme to defraud her clients and her own family members of nearly $1 million.

Some $203 million in funding under last year’s Recovery Act for the Internal Revenue Service to reprogram its computer systems and update tax forms, publications and customer service may be at risk due to inadequate oversight, according to a new government report.

The Internal Revenue Service has published Notice 2010-58, which provides guidance in Q& A format under Section 13 of the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, which allows taxpayers to elect a three, four, or year-year net operating loss carryback instead of a normal two-year carryback.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the federal budget deficit for 2010 will exceed $1.3 trillion—$71 billion below last year's total and $27 billion lower than the amount that CBO projected in March 2010, when it issued its previous estimate, but that projection is predicated on the Bush tax cuts and other tax breaks expiring.

An Internal Revenue Service agent has pleaded guilty in a federal court in St. Paul, Minn., to soliciting and receiving a $9,700 bribe.

My guess is that there’s at least a 50-50 chance that the new Form 1099 reporting mandate will be repealed or modified before it goes into effect. On almost anyone’s benefit-burden scale, the burdens far outweigh the benefits.

The Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations on Thursday to significantly increase the number of electronic transactions between taxpayers and the federal government.

The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday that its new online application system for compensated tax return preparers is expected to go live in mid-September, and that the fee will total $64.25 to receive a Preparer Tax Identification Number.