Tax practice

President-elect Barack Obama announced the key members of his economic team on Monday, including his pick for Treasury Secretary, New York Federal Reserve president Timothy Geithner.

The Internal Revenue Service has reduced the 2009 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile, citing lower gas prices.

A new report on President-elect Barack Obama's tax policies sees his mantle of change perhaps leading him to change some of his tax proposals as he works with Congress next year.

An IRS revenue agent was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after he was indicted a few days earlier by a grand jury on charges of tax fraud and obstructing an investigation into his tax return.

An Internal Revenue Service advisory group has released a report detailing a wide-ranging set of 70 recommendations, including new requirements for tax preparers.

President-elect Barack Obama plans to shift tax incentives to encourage more use of renewable energy sources, according to one tax expert.

The House Small Business Committee convened a hearing on the financial rescue program and found that $1.6 trillion in bailout funds have provided little assistance to small businesses so far.

With tax season coming up, the IRS is reaching out to tax-exempt organizations and preparers to spread the word about the revised Form 990 and the extra information it will require.

Prosecutors have indicted John B. Ohle III, a former member of a bank's tax shelter promotion group, on charges of conspiring with lawyers at the law firm of Jenkens & Gilchrist and others to defraud the U.S. Treasury of an estimated $100 million in the sale of a tax shelter known as "HOMER."

A new career in income tax preparation could be a safety net for some of the thousands of bank and financial services employees who are losing their jobs due to the current economic crisis. Many of those being laid off are older employees who would not be able to find another comparable full-time job, but are not ready to retire.Tax professionals need many of the same qualifications that bankers and financial professionals possess. A tax preparer must be able to conduct a thorough interview to extract financial and personal information from their client and hold that information in complete confidence. Preparing income tax returns requires similar skills as completing banking, mortgage or investment documents.

INFLATION ADJUSTMENTS WIDEN TAX BRACKETSWashington, D.C. - The Internal Revenue Service said that personal exemptions and standard deductions would rise in 2009 to keep pace with inflation, providing more than three dozen tax benefits.

While the driving force behind the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 may have been the need to find an immediate solution to the current financial crisis, the new law added energy tax provisions at the eleventh hour that might be viewed - in retrospect, if not at the time of passage - as an integral part of a longer-term national solution. The energy title of the new law, the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, provides a host of tax incentives for alternative energy use and development, as well as for general energy conservation.Some sections of the energy title to the EESA are extensions of existing provisions, while others provide new opportunities. Together, they present a plan to strengthen the economy by minimizing foreign oil dependency. Viewed by its parts, the act adds to the matrix of ways that individuals and businesses alike can lower their net costs of energy consumption.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has selected the accounting firm Watkins, Meegan, Drury & Co. to do forensic accounting on his tax returns and congressional disclosure forms.

The Internal Revenue Service has not developed sufficient processes to ensure that more than 61 million tax refunds were directly deposited last tax season to the correct bank account, according to a new report from the Treasury's inspector general.The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said that the IRS places responsibility for compliance with federal direct deposit regulations on the taxpayer, and indicated that it is the taxpayer's responsibility to ensure that their tax refunds are directly deposited only into their accounts. TIGTA and representatives from the Treasury's Financial Management Service, however, believe that the IRS is responsible for enforcing the requirement.

The Financial Accounting Foundation advised President Bush and other U.S. and world leaders attending the G-20 summit to safeguard fair value accounting and the independent standard-setting process in a strongly worded letter.

Financial Executives International has written to House and Senate Leaders urging lawmakers to consider relief for small and closely held business in the event of any future stimulus packages.

The Internal Revenue Service continues to have problems with its internal controls and financial management systems, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

Electronic tax filing for individuals and businesses set a record in 2008, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the department's Troubled Asset Relief Program would begin to focus more on relieving tight consumer credit markets and shift away from the original plans to buy mortgage-backed securities.

The Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service have accused a senior executive at UBS of helping U.S. taxpayers evade income taxes on approximately $20 billion in assets.