Tax practice

Following President Obama’s first formal address to Congress where he called for a rebuilding of America, members of the profession as well as GOP lawmakers offered mixed reactions to his budget priorities as well as the stimulus package.

IRS REVISES 529 PLAN RULESWashington, D.C. - The Internal Revenue Service has given Section 529 college savings plans the ability to change their investment strategies more frequently in response to the financial crisis.

When every dollar counts a bit more dearly, a greater number of taxpayers are taking a closer look at ways to improve cash flow. Increasing (or at least accelerating) tax refunds for past years while lowering estimated tax and withholding payments for this year are two areas of growing interest.On the refund side of the ledger, a variety of elections and decisions still to be made on 2008 returns can affect the size of a refund, either of 2008 tax payments or of prior years' under loss-carryback rules. Accelerating refunds, whether or not they are already set in stone, also can improve a taxpayer's immediate cash flow.

President Barack Obama is expected to release his budget proposal this week, and he reportedly plans to include tax increases to close the deficit.

Many of the Internal Revenue Service’s plans to protect its employees and provide service to taxpayers during and after a major disruption are not up to date, have not been adequately tested and do not contain sufficient detail to be effective, warned a government watchdog.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson urged Congress to simplify the U.S. Tax Code and recommended measures to reduce the burden on taxpayers who are struggling to pay their bills.In the first of this year's two required reports to Congress, she designated the complexity of the Tax Code as the most serious problem facing taxpayers. According to data compiled by her office, U.S. taxpayers and businesses spend about 7.6 billion hours a year complying with tax-filing requirements. "If tax compliance were an industry, it would be one of the largest in the United States," she said in her report. "To consume 7.6 billion hours, the tax industry requires the equivalent of 3.8 million full-time workers."

GUIDANCE ISSUED ON TAX STATSWashington, D.C. - The Internal Revenue Service has issued interim guidance on the ability of a tax return preparer to use statistical compilations of anonymous tax return information to support their business.

The stimulus bill signed into law this week includes significant tax savings of up to $1,000 per year for workers who commute by mass transit.

Tax return examiners at the Internal Revenue Service often select the wrong prior or subsequent year’s tax return when looking for inconsistencies with the current tax return.

Here is some advice from the Internal Revenue Service about reporting gains and losses on tax returns:

Swiss bank UBS has worked out a deal with the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to reveal the identities and account numbers of U.S. citizens who have been stashing their money in previously secret bank accounts.

When Timothy Geithner unveiled the Treasury Department’s latest financial rescue plan, he probably didn’t expect it to flop so quickly.

President Barack Obama plans to sign the stimulus bill into law in Denver on Tuesday after Congress passed the massive $787 billion bill.

How much, if any, of your Social Security benefits are taxable depends on your total income and marital status.

A former attorney at BDO Seidman has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and tax fraud charges in connection with a tax shelter scheme.

President Barack Obama signed the massive $787 billion stimulus bill into law in an effort to boost the economy out of a deep recession.

House and Senate leaders made last-minute adjustments to the economic stimulus package as the final bill headed for a vote.

The amount of taxes owed to the U.S. government from cross-border transactions by U.S. and foreign citizens and businesses is murky, according to a new report, but could be as high as $123 billion.

The Internal Revenue Service did not work effectively on over a quarter of the cases involving delinquent taxes of between $100,000 and $1 million, and in some cases simply dropped them, according to a new report.

When filing a 2008 federal tax return, taxpayers will need to know the amount of their economic stimulus payment to properly determine if they are eligible for a recovery rebate credit.