Tax practice

An $18.7 million system that the Internal Revenue Service has developed to keep better track of the caseload in its Tax Exempt/Government Entities Division has failed to live up to its promises, according to a new report.

Approximately 51.6 million tax filers paid no federal income taxes in 2008, including some families making more than $50,000.

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The Senate has passed a bill to extend unemployment benefits through the end of the year as well as a number of tax cuts that expired at the end of last year.

Amazon.com has cut off its affiliates in Colorado in response to a new law that requires Web retailers to send a statement to their customers every year of how much tax they should be paying on their purchases.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich., and ranking member Dave Camp, R-Mich., have introduced legislation to allow taxpayers to claim charitable deductions in 2009 for Chilean earthquake relief.

The Internal Revenue Service intends to take several additional steps this tax season to help people who are having trouble meeting their tax obligations because of unemployment or other financial problems.

A California tax preparer who controlled two bank accounts with the same initials as the Internal Revenue Service and the state’s Franchise Tax Board has pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued guidance designating last month’s earthquake in Chile as a qualified disaster for federal tax purposes.

A federal appeals court has ruled that the electronic filing fees charged by Intuit, H&R Block Digital Tax Solutions, and other members of the Free File Alliance are not illegal and the IRS’s agreement with them did not violate antitrust laws.

The Congressional Budget Office has released an estimate of the budgetary effects of President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 and found that some of the tax cuts could add another $3 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

The Internal Revenue Service has outlined a safe harbor method to report a gain or loss for taxpayers who initiate deferred like-kind exchanges but fail to complete the exchange because a qualified intermediary defaults on its obligation to acquire and transfer the replacement property.

The Internal Revenue Service has released the 2010 update to its Allowable Living Expense Standards, which it applies to taxpayers who need to delay full payment of delinquent taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service is giving interested parties more time to submit comments on its recent proposal to require companies to disclose information about their uncertain tax positions.

Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., has been chosen as acting chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, a day after Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., took a leave of absence from the leadership of the powerful tax-writing committee.

After two years of paying down debt and skipping family vacations, many Americans cautiously intend to start spending their tax refunds once again.

Massachusetts tax attorney Kevin Kilduff, who formerly worked for the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, has been barred from practicing before the IRS for 48 months for failing to file a federal tax return and filing another five returns late.

Under pressure from Congress, the Internal Revenue Service has once again extended its moratorium on collection enforcement actions on certain types of tax shelter penalties.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has temporarily stepped aside as chairman of the powerful tax-writing committee amid mounting calls for his resignation.

A former CPA who now owns a medical supply company has been charged in a $7.6 million health care fraud scheme, along with three other defendants.