Tax practice

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., dropped efforts to temporarily extend the estate tax at its current level in the face of Republican opposition.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued proposed regulations under a new law that will require reporting of basis and other information by stock brokers and mutual fund companies for most stock purchased in 2011 and all stock purchased in 2012 and later years.

CCH has issued a Special Tax Briefing on the Tax Extenders Act of 2009 that was approved this month by the House.

The Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009 has given hard-pressed businesses a generous pre-holiday gift in its extension and expansion of the enhanced five-year net operating loss carryback provision under Code Sec. 172. Many economists predict an eventual windfall to businesses far in excess of the $10.5 billion 10-year cost estimated by the Joint Committee on Taxation. Even so, the Joint Committee forecasts front-loaded benefits of over $33 billion in 2010. To maximize this windfall, however, each taxpayer must carefully evaluate how its own facts and circumstances relate to certain variables and recommended strategies.

RANGEL BILL CLAMPS DOWN ON UNREPORTED FOREIGN INCOME

The surge in projected government spending, coupled with diminishing sources of revenue, raises the probability that lawmakers may look toward a value-added tax to close the gap.

The House has approved a comprehensive financial reform bill, albeit with a number of key provisions weakened in recent days.

The past year saw a number of unusual sales and use tax laws enacted in a number of states.

Los Angeles attorney Matthew G. Krane has pleaded guilty to passport fraud and tax evasion after failing to report more than $35 million in income hidden overseas.

The prospect of the enactment of a value-added tax in the United States is getting closer – five years and counting, according to a Tax Governance Institute survey.

The House approved the Tax Extenders Act of 2009, with extensions of a number of tax breaks that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, including the R&D credit.

President Obama described a series of proposals aimed at encouraging companies to add more jobs, including tax cuts for small businesses.

Large corporations have dominated the use of the research tax credit, with 549 corporations with receipts of $1 billion or more claiming over half of the $6 billion of net credits in 2005, the most recent year available, according to a new study by the Government Accountability Office.

The Internal Revenue Service has appointed Victor Song as the new chief of its Criminal Investigation division, replacing Eileen Mayer, who is retiring next month.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a new tax guide to help taxpayers and tax preparers get the most out of new recovery tax breaks and get a jump on preparing 2009 income tax returns.

Fifty-seven percent of the senior business executives surveyed by KPMG’s Tax Governance Institute expect some type of value-added tax to be introduced in the U.S. within five years, and 18 percent anticipate a VAT within 10 years.

A group of Democratic lawmakers has introduced legislation that would impose a tax on Wall Street securities transactions.

The White House convened a jobs summit in which President Obama heard from business and union leaders about various proposals for reducing unemployment, including tax incentives for job creation.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued its 2010 optional standard mileage rates for calculating the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

The Justice Department has filed papers seeking a federal court order to authorize the IRS to serve a “John Doe summons” on Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed receiver of accused fraudster R. Allen Stanford’s investment companies, in an effort to identify Stanford’s clients.