Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service has issued advice on how to claim the Making Work Pay Tax Credit that was included in the Recovery Act if an employer has not provided the full credit.

The effects of the economic downturn have been particularly hard on states, which will make life interesting in the year ahead for firms that sell services in the state and local tax area.

The Senate has unanimously passed legislation that allows taxpayers to deduct charitable contributions to aid victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

The Internal Revenue Service has increased its maximum value limits for employer-provided vehicles this year.

President Barack Obama proposed new restrictions Thursday on the size and scope of financial institutions to limit their ability to engage in risky trading practices.

The House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation Wednesday that would allow individuals who make charitable contributions to victims of the earthquake in Haiti to claim an itemized charitable deduction on their 2009 tax return instead of having to wait until next year to claim the deductions on their 2010 tax return.

Grant Thornton anticipates state budgets will remain under pressure this year even if the economy improves.

The Internal Revenue Service has appointed tax attorney Michael Danilack as deputy commissioner (international) of the IRS’s Large and Mid-Size Business Division.

President Barack Obama ordered the Treasury Department, the Office of Management and Budget, and other federal agencies to block contractors who are seriously delinquent in their taxes from receiving new government contracts.

The devastating earthquake in Haiti last week is spurring relief efforts from countries around the world, but the U.S. is playing a key role in providing both help and security, along with much-needed funds.

Calvetti, Ferguson & Wagner, P.C., a CPA and business advisory firm specializing in tax, audit and advisory solutions, sealed a partnership with global transactional concern Verse Consulting that will bolster its international tax offerings to mid-market companies.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Congress plan to introduce legislation that would allow individuals who make charitable contributions to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti to claim an itemized charitable deduction on their tax return this year instead of waiting until next year.

The Internal Revenue Service took the right steps when it shut down its controversial private debt collection program last year, a government report concluded.

The Internal Revenue Service has released the new form that eligible homebuyers need to claim the First-Time Homebuyer Credit this tax season and said that processing of those tax returns will begin in mid-February.

As Wall Street firms prepare to hand out record levels of bonuses, a group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill have co-sponsored a bill that would slap a 50 percent tax on many of the bonuses.

CCH has published a Special Tax Briefing on the IRS’s new program for registering, educating and testing paid tax preparers.

The White House has reportedly cemented a deal with labor union leaders scaling back the tax on so-called “Cadillac” health insurance plans.

The free electronic filing service has been made available to even more taxpayers.

Although most observers are on board with the new proposals to register, test and license tax return preparers, some questions about the goals and the process remain.

Long-standing problems with S corporation tax compliance should be addressed by Congress and the IRS, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office, which recommended that S corps need to do a better job of reporting shareholder compensation and calculating the ownership shares of corporations.