Tax practice

In the midst of their August recess, House lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill to vote to approve legislation to provide $26 billion in aid to states to avoid teacher layoffs and Medicaid cuts, paid for in part by clamping down on foreign tax credits.

Thirty-one members of the House have signed a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner urging changes in the Internal Revenue Service’s proposed plan to regulate paid income tax return preparers.

A Canadian citizen was sentenced to nearly three years in a U.S. federal prison after he tried to deposit a $350,000 U.S. federal tax refund in a Washington State bank.

Consumer taxes for retail sales items, gas and cigarettes have all continued to climb in the past year, according to an annual survey of consumption taxes by CCH.

A federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif., has permanently barred Thanh Viet Jeremy Cao and his business, Phoenix Financial Management Group, from preparing federal tax returns.

The Internal Revenue Service could do more to encourage tax preparers to reduce the $345 billion tax gap, according to a new government report.

The Senate has revised the Small Business Jobs Act tax relief and lending bill with amendments scaling back controversial new requirements for 1099 reporting of business transactions.

The battle to extend or not to extend the Bush tax cuts has drawn comments from both sides on the potential positive or negative effects of the cuts.

Starting next tax season, the Internal Revenue Service will no longer provide tax preparers and financial institutions with a so-called “debt indicator” that is often used to facilitate refund anticipation loans.

The Internal Revenue Service is realigning its Large and Mid-size Business Division to focus more on improving international tax compliance.

The vast majority of U.S. business executives are against the imposition of a value-added tax and would need time to prepare for it, according to a new poll.

The founder and principal manager of a bogus foreign exchange fund that effectively operated like a Ponzi scheme has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison on tax charges.

CCH has expanded its Tax Prep Partner Series with four new compliance guidance titles.

Four of eight promoters of a fraudulent tax- and debt-elimination scheme have been sentenced to length prison terms for their roles in tax fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

The Treasury Department has released a new state-by-state report on the number of newly hired workers whose employers are eligible to claim tax credits under the HIRE Act, increasing the estimate from 4.5 million to 5.6 million workers.

CCH has introduced CCH TaxPlan, a new product on its IntelliConnect online research service that combines tax planning guidance with interactive practice tools to help practitioners with tax planning engagements.

House Democrats blasted Republicans for blocking a bill with tax breaks for small businesses and the removal of a controversial 1099 information reporting requirement after the bill failed to garner the two-thirds margin needed for passage.

A new bill in Congress would provide a one-time $250 payment to senior citizens, veterans and the disabled in the event that no Social Security cost-of-living adjustment is payable in 2011.

Senate Republicans united in blocking a vote on legislation to provide tax breaks to small businesses along with a $30 billion lending fund.

Senior financial executives and tax directors say they lack formal policies and procedures to manage the IRS exam process effectively, despite reporting a noticeable increase in Internal Revenue Service corporate audit activity over 2008 levels, according to a recent survey by KPMG LLP.