Tax practice

Sally Louise Crystal, the owner of a Costa Mesa, Calif., business called Sal the 1040 Gal, was arrested Tuesday on charges of preparing false tax returns.

H&R Block has closed about 400 of its “under-performing” tax offices out of its network of 11,000 retail tax locations, and eliminated approximately 400 positions throughout the organization.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has filed a cloture motion on the financial regulatory reform bill as he pushes for the debate to end this week, but with hundreds of amendments still waiting to be decided, he may not get his wish.

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman indicated that small charities that missed the May 17 filing deadline for filing their Form 990 may still be able to keep their tax-exempt status.

The Internal Revenue Service has posted a form on its Web site that employers can use to claim a payroll tax exemption for hiring new employees under the recently passed HIRE Act.

State tax revenues fell 8.9 percent nationwide from fiscal year 2008 to 2009, with 45 states seeing a decline in state-level tax collections, according to a Tax Foundation analysis of new U.S. Census data.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to improve the security of a Web portal used by tax preparers to electronically file tax returns and submit and retrieve other tax-related information, according to a new report.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued new guidance on the recently passed health care reform bill to clarify that small businesses receiving state health care tax credits can still qualify for the full federal health care tax credit, and they can receive the health care tax credit not only for regular health insurance but also for add-on dental and vision coverage.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to beef up tax compliance efforts for nonresident aliens who earn money in the U.S., according to a new government report.

BNA Tax & Accounting has introduced State Tax Nexus Evaluator, a research product that helps businesses and practitioners determine income tax nexus for 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and New York City.

Taxpayers filed over 4.5 million returns with adjusted gross income of $200,000 or more for 2007, up from over 4 million returns in the prior year, according to newly released IRS statistics.

Supreme Court nominee wrote a brief on behalf of the IRS in a far-reaching tax case that could come before the Supreme Court.

A federal judge in Kansas City, Mo., has permanently barred Allen R. Davison from promoting a variety of tax fraud schemes, including some that used sham companies, sham chicken-flock contracts, and sham pension plans.

Ernst & Young has joined the U.S. State Department’s new E-Mentor Corps program to provide mentorship to entrepreneurs around the world.

The Internal Revenue Service has selected four new members of its Advisory Committee on Tax-Exempt and Government Entities for the term starting in 2010 and ending in 2012.

A long-awaited Senate energy and climate change bill is being introduced Wednesday by John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., with several tax provisions that would benefit nuclear power plants.

Thousands of nonprofit organizations could lose their tax-exempt status if they don’t file a Form 990 with the IRS by May 17.

The Internal Revenue Service does not always properly authenticate the identity of taxpayers calling its toll-free assistance lines before providing them with confidential tax account information, according to a new government report.

Tax accountants and others looking for clues on how the anti-tax Tea Party movement will affect this fall’s national elections received mixed signals from voters in a number of recent ballot initiatives.

The Hawaii legislature has overridden the veto of Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle and passed a strict mandatory peer review law for public accountants.