Tax practice

The American Institute of CPAs said it strongly supports recently introduced legislation requiring the comptroller general, who leads the Government Accountability Office, to be a CPA.

The bank that Jackson Hewitt Tax Service uses to process and administer its refund anticipation loans will not be in a position to originate RALs for the 2010 tax season, according to the company.

H&R Block will be among the tax preparation businesses that will be taking advantage of a new IRS initiative aimed at helping taxpayers build their nest eggs by allocating a portion of their tax refund toward the purchase of U.S. savings bonds.

The Internal Revenue Service has extended its moratorium on collecting penalties on listed tax shelter transactions from small businesses after an influential senator threatened to block the nominations of key Treasury Department nominees.

Accounting firm Eisner LLP has introduced its 2010 Personal Tax Guide, which is available on the firm’s Web site and as a download to the Amazon Kindle e-reader.

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, threatened to hold up the confirmation of all nominees to Treasury Department posts unless the Treasury and the IRS do more to ease tax penalties on small businesses.

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee said they intend to work on passing legislation to extend expiring tax breaks early next year.

The Internal Revenue Service released its 2010 inflation adjustments to the excise taxes on airport transportation, with at least some of them ascending.

The Internal Revenue Service is unable to verify taxpayer eligibility for the majority of the tax benefits and credits provided by the Recovery Act, according to a new report.

The Senate’s brand-new 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services is bound to lead to some further creative thinking about how to generate extra revenue to cover the costs of health care reform.

For at least the first few days of 2010, and probably longer, executors of the estates of people dying after Dec. 31, 2009, will be operating in a difficult environment after the Senate’s failure to extend the estate tax at its current rates.

A new report by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration found that millions of people may have improperly received Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers from the IRS that could be used to fraudulently claim tax refunds.

The Senate overcame a key procedural hurdle early Monday morning on the arduous journey to approving health care reform legislation with a 1:00 am vote approving an amendment by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that made changes to secure the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster.

The House passed two bills earlier this month with provisions related to the use of Extensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL, the interactive data-tagging technology that the SEC has begun requiring large public companies to use when filing their financial statements.

The House narrowly passed a jobs bill aimed at reducing unemployment, but the legislation’s prospects are uncertain in the Senate.

Economic uncertainty, coupled with the possibility of higher tax rates, has driven taxpayers to seek more face time with their accountants.

An income tax treaty between the United States and Italy has taken effect after a decade-long delay.

The IRS has chosen to use TaxWise software from CCH Small Firm Services at its tax assistance sites for the 15th consecutive year.

IMGCAP(1)]The IRS is conducting a sweep of real estate investors that challenges deductions investors have been taking as a routine part of business for years. The sweep is based on an IRS belief that there is a “compliance gap” in this area.

A biennial survey by the National Society of Accountants found that the cost of preparing an itemized Form 1040 with a Schedule A and a state tax return averages $229.