Tax practice

A California tax preparer who falsely claimed to be a CPA and former IRS employee could receive up to six years in prison after he pleaded guilty this week to aiding and assisting others in preparing false tax returns.

New Jersey ranks at the bottom of the list in a new study of the comparative business friendliness of tax systems in the 50 states, while South Dakota is counted as most business friendly.

The Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration has released a report recommending that the IRS seek mandatory electronic filing of individual tax returns by paid preparers, and legislation is being readied to write such a requirement into law.

IMGCAP(1)]Remember when the hefty three-ringed tax research guides required a whole room set aside as a library? Oh, and a librarian? Imagine justifying this expense to your partners today. You couldn’t. You wouldn’t want to because the alternative is so much better than the dark woodsy library ever was.

The State of Minnesota has decided to end its income tax reciprocity program with Wisconsin, effective Jan. 1, 2010.

Year-end tax planning for 2009 presents a unique set of challenges, in addition to reprising some traditional ones. Many more tax breaks this year are temporary, either sunsetting in 2009 or 2010. Congress, in 11th-hour brinkmanship, is not helping to signal in advance which provisions will be extended. Further, the conventional tax advice of accelerating deductions and deferring income may not sit well if deferring income runs the risk of not receiving it at all in an uncertain economy ... or receiving it when tax rates go higher.

Textron ruling may put limits on practitioner privilege

IRS TO ASSIGN CORPORATE AUDITORS TO SWISS BANK CASES

The Internal Revenue Service has again extended the deadline for taxpayers to make voluntary disclosures of the unreported income they have stashed in hidden offshore accounts, but warned this would be the final extension.

A man who had been barred five years ago from preparing tax returns and representing clients before the IRS was convicted of violating the injunction by continuing to do so.

IMGCAP(1)]In recent months, the IRS has taken a more serious look at the long talked about subject of professional tax preparer registration.

Taxpayers will reap little benefit next year from the indexing of many features of the Tax Code, according to CCH, which released estimated income ranges for each 2010 tax bracket.

The Internal Revenue Service is spending millions of dollars in interest on tax refunds that have been improperly frozen, according to a new report.

A federal judge in San Francisco has issued permanent injunctions barring four individuals from promoting what a government lawsuit describes as a complex tax-fraud scheme involving several entities located around the globe.

The IRS has issued a new tax rule that will allow commercial real estate borrowers to proactively discuss possible modifications to securitized loans that are at risk of default without triggering tax penalties.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has introduced his own version of long-awaited health care reform legislation, without a public option for health insurance.

An IRS employee has been indicted by a federal grand jury for stealing mail that had been delivered to an IRS service facility.

The Tax Court has denied a Brooklyn tax lawyer’s attempt to claim over $100,000 in payments for prostitutes and pornography as medical expense deductions.

CCH has introduced a new research product with up-to-date information on 20 jurisdictions that offer low tax rates.

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has declared Sept. 13 to 19 to be Virginia Certified Public Accountants Week.