Tax practice

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.

The Internal Revenue Service said that economic stimulus payments directly deposited to individual retirement accounts and other tax-favored accounts may be withdrawn tax- and penalty-free.The relief is designed to help taxpayers who may have been unaware that by choosing direct deposit for their entire regular tax refund, they were also choosing to have their stimulus payment directly deposited as well. The tax relief is available for amounts withdrawn from tax-favored accounts that are less than or equal to a taxpayer’s directly deposited stimulus payment.

The number of tax evasion prosecutions fell 5.3 percent last year, continuing a steady decline for at least two decades, according to a new study.

The Internal Revenue Service won another tax shelter case, this one involving a sale-in/lease-out transaction.

The Internal Revenue Service reported that its e-file program set another record this tax season, with more than 86 million individual tax returns filed so far this year, a 12 percent increase over last year at this time.

The National Conference of CPA Practitioners held a quarterly meeting in Washington to meet with various senators and representatives as well as the Internal Revenue Service, and talk about tax policy.

The Internal Revenue Service's Spring 2008 Statistics of Income Bulletin is a bit of misnomer as it mainly covers income stats for 2006 and 2005, but the report does provide some interesting insights into income patterns and sources in recent years.

Under new regulations, taxpayers must consent to the disclosure or use of their tax information by return preparers. Stiff penalties can be imposed on the preparer who makes unauthorized disclosures.

The Senate has approved a bill offering more than $1.2 billion in tax relief to veterans and military families.

The Senate voted 82-13 to override President Bush's veto of the Farm Bill, which includes nearly $2 billion in tax relief.

Under new regulations, taxpayers must consent to the disclosure or use of their tax information by return preparers. Stiff penalties can be imposed on the preparer who makes unauthorized disclosures.