Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service has issued proposed regulations implementing amendments to the tax return preparer penalties.

One of the consequences of the credit crisis that began in the summer of 2007 was the deterioration in the U.S. housing market, rendering the valuations of securitized or structured mortgage-backed assets volatile.The contracting demand for these assets — which had been dramatically overvalued by brokers who earned substantial commissions by pushing over 600 varieties of these assets to hedge fund managers through repos that were leveraged without regulatory bounds — precipitated the tightening of unsecured term funding. That led to credit downgrades, massive write-downs of MBS assets by financial institutions according to mark-to-market accounting rules, and illiquidity.

IRS PLANS TAX SHELTER CRACKDOWNWashington, D.C. — Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman promised to continue enforcement efforts against tax shelters.

International work assignments — both inbound and outbound, short-term and long-term — have become more common as the world gets “smaller” and “flatter.”While on foreign soil, most employees feel that they deserve additional compensation and that they should be at least somewhat released from the growing number of domestic tax rules that restrict compensation packages. Some of the more irksome rules restricting compensation arrangements lately are contained in the final regs under Code Sec. 409A on nonqualified deferred compensation.

The Internal Revenue Service is falling short on inspecting the international tax transactions of small businesses for compliance problems, according to a new report.

Reeling from an unfavorable court decision on its tax strategy, banking giant KeyCorp said it would take an after-tax accounting charge of between $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion in the second quarter, cut its dividend in half and raise another $1.5 billion by issuing shares.

The Internal Revenue Service said its e-Services online tools will be out of service the last weekend in June.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., introduced the Energy Independence and Tax Relief Act of 2008 as Democrats and Republicans haggle over how to pay for extending expiring tax provisions.

Presidential hopefuls Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., clashed over their tax plans, trading accusations of hikes in capital gains and Social Security taxes.

Senate Republicans have defeated a proposal to charge oil companies a windfall profits tax.

The Internal Revenue Service is pursuing billionaire Philip Anschutz over $143.6 million in back taxes in an effort to discourage arrangements that allow people to defer paying capital gains taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service has added new features to its Online Payment Agreement Application, making it easier for taxpayers and practitioners to modify existing installment agreements for paying tax debts to the government.

The Senate Finance Committee held hearings on small business tax issues as part of a series of hearings on tax reform.

The U.S. Tax Court has proposed amending its rules and procedures for whistleblower award actions.

Buying goods over the Internet without paying sales tax is becoming a thing of the past.

Prosecutors who convicted actor Wesley Snipes on charges of failing to file his tax return for three years have filed a cross-appeal demanding that he pay $257,687.74 for the cost of prosecuting him.

Despite a provision enacted by Congress prohibiting the Internal Revenue Service from labeling taxpayers as "illegal tax protesters" or similar designations, the IRS is still using the term, according to a new report.

Despite the constitutional, judicial and legislative pronouncements affecting nexus, states vary widely on what level of activity renders a business liable to pay state tax.“There are plenty of gray areas, and on some issues a state will say it depends on the facts and circumstances,” said George Farrah, executive editor of state tax and accounting for BNA.

IRS ENFORCEMENT PAID OFF LAST YEARWashington, D.C. — The Internal Revenue Service stepped up its compliance activities last year and saw its revenues jump, according to a new report.

The huge farm bill working its way through the final stages of the House/Senate Conference Committee appears to have preserved at least a few tax provisions. In March, the conference committee had stripped out the tax provisions that had originated with the Senate Finance Committee. However, when it came time to count votes, negotiators decided that some of the tax provisions had to stay in.The farm bill can be looked at as a net tax increase, with the somewhat unusual feature for legislation in recent years of providing for more revenue-raising offsets than tax incentives. The negotiators have agreed on $1.4 billion in tax incentives and $10 billion in offsets. The figure of $1.4 billion is a significant reduction from the $2.4 billion in tax incentives originally proposed by the Senate Finance Committee.