Tax practice

Unenrolled tax preparers made mistakes on the majority of returns they prepared for undercover Treasury Department auditors, according to a new report.

The Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing on how foreign investors dodge taxes on U.S. stock dividends with the help of U.S. banks and investment houses.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., refused to resign his chairmanship of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee after revelations that he failed to pay taxes on rental income from a vacation villa in the Dominican Islands.

Influential tax protestor Irwin Schiff had his 151-month prison sentence extended by an additional 11 months after he was sentenced for criminal contempt.

The Internal Revenue Service has recently added a page to its Web site for small businesses and the self-employed.

The Congressional Budget Office sees the deficit growing to $407 billion for the year ending Sept. 30 and ballooning to $438 billion next year, with the takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae threatening to send it far higher.

Approximately $7.6 billion of potentially collectible taxes is lost annually due to withholding noncompliance, according to a report from the Treasury Department's inspector general.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have issued new regulations that will make it easier for charities to gain tax-exempt status.

In the first-ever visit to Congress by the American Institute of CPAs’ Major Firms Group, CPA executive leaders from 81 of the nation’s top 100 accounting firms visited Capitol Hill just prior to summer recess.The firms, representing more than 54,000 employees and their clients, discussed with lawmakers those legislative issues that are important to the accounting profession, including tax patents and uniform non-resident tax standards.

CANDIDATES MAKE TAX PLANSChicago — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., called for an “emergency energy rebate” of $1,000 to be offered to families this fall, along with a $50 billion stimulus package to help jump-start job creation.

While many of the non-tax provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, enacted on July 30, 2008, appear directly focused at the problems arising from the housing and mortgage crisis that has developed over the last year, the tax provisions appear at best to have only an indirect effect on the individuals most impacted by the subprime mortgages and declining home values.The tax title to the legislation includes many provisions focused on the low-income housing credit, housing and mortgage bonds, and real estate investment trusts. This column, however, will take a closer look at some of the individual tax breaks and revenue raisers most likely to impact individual taxpayers and their tax returns in 2008 and coming years.

Congressman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, never reported rental income from a vacation property he has owned in the Dominican Republic since 1988.

The Internal Revenue Service has thousands of insecure, unauthorized Web servers connected to its network, putting taxpayer information at risk.

An Iowa man has been indicted for claiming a $240,009 refund of all the taxes he has paid, contending the Internal Revenue Service has no jurisdiction over him because the U.S. is a "fictional entity" and he is a "citizen of heaven."

U.S. and foreign tax rules increasingly influence where multinational companies are reporting their income is being earned, according to a new report that may influence tax legislation in Congress.

The Internal Revenue Service has been asked to investigate James Manning, the pastor of Atlah World Missionary Church in Harlem, and the church's tax-exempt status after Manning repeatedly attacked Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., from the pulpit.

The mayor of Raceland, Ky., informed a startled city council at an emergency meeting Wednesday night that the Internal Revenue Service has seized close to $100,000 from the city coffers because of non-payment of 2006-2007 taxes.

Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said he planned to co-sponsor a bill that will update the deductible cost of operating a vehicle for charitable purposes.

The Internal Revenue Service is providing tax relief to flood-ravaged victims of Hurricane Gustav in the affected areas of Louisiana by postponing some tax-filing deadlines.

With gasoline taxes much in the news lately, CCH has introduced an online Oil and Gas Taxation Library on its CCH Tax Research NetWork.