Tax practice

The U.S. Tax Court has ruled in favor of a Massachusetts taxpayer whose deduction for her sex change operation was rejected by the Internal Revenue Service.

As expected, President Obama proposed a $3.8 trillionbudget for Fiscal 2011, including a projected record deficit of $1.6 trillion.

IMGCAP(1)]Google has contrived a convoluted way to determine its income tax responsibilities to the U.S. and other taxing jurisdictions, in part by shifting income to its operations in Ireland.

Congressional auditors responsible for holding governmentagencies responsible for their financial integrity are doing a bang-up job -according to a performance review that they conducted on themselves.

While there were no real surprises in the State of the Union speech, it did flesh out some tax proposals that will be acted on in the days ahead, according to observers.

Swiss authorities said they would continue talks with the U.S. to resolve an impasse over the disclosure of secret bank accounts at UBS after a Swiss court blocked a deal reached by the two governments last year.

A former CPA whose license has been suspended by the Oregon Board of Accountancy has pleaded guilty to charges related to mortgage fraud.

A California man has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. after he was accused of filing at least 250 tax returns of deceased individuals.

A new report from BNA Tax & Accounting on transfer pricing predicts that tax authorities in different countries will continue to closely scrutinize intercompany transactions across national borders and will begin simultaneous audits of several large companies’ intercompany prices this year.

Financial Executives International has filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of a petition for review of the U.S. v. Textron case, involving the IRS’s right to examine the tax accrual work papers of a company.

A free guide for CPAs to sales and use tax has been released by sales tax technology provider SpeedTax.

President Obama is widely expected to call for a three-year spending freeze on key areas of his discretionary budget during the State of the Union address on Wednesday evening, but critics are already warning that now is not the time to cut spending just as the country is emerging from a recession.

The Internal Revenue Service is considering requiring some business taxpayers to report uncertain tax positions on their tax returns, according to Commissioner of Internal Revenue Douglas Shulman.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden previewed some of the major themes in the president’s upcoming State of the Union address, including a proposal to increase some tax credits for middle-class families.

The Internal Revenue Service listed the guidelines for the tax deductions that taxpayers can take for the contributions they make toward Haiti earthquake relief this year.

An IRS advisory subcommittee is testing a compliance checklist for state and local government employers, asking questions about tax withholding, fringe benefits, retirement plans and other matters.

The eligibility period for COBRA subsidies for laid-off workers has been extended through February, with 15 months of subsidy available now to those who qualify.

Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Court has ruled that the agreement for UBS to disclose the identities of 4,450 U.S.-based taxpayers to the IRS violates the country’s banking secrecy laws.

Four former Ernst & Young partners have been sentenced for their roles in tax shelter schemes.

The Internal Revenue Service issued guidance that designates the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010 as a qualified disaster for federal tax purposes.