Tax practice

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, defended the Internal Revenue Service's outsourcing of tax collections to private firms by pointing out the thousands of disciplinary actions taken against IRS employees.

A new study by the Computer & Communications Industry Association recommended that the Internal Revenue Service avoid investing in its own online tax preparation system, saying the proposed "I-File" system would be costly to implement and create little or no benefit for consumers.

The Supreme Court has issued unanimous rulings in two tax cases, MeadWestvaco Corp. v. Illinois Department of Revenue, and U.S. v. Clintwood Elkhorn Mining Co.

The Internal Revenue Service has released draft instructions for the redesigned Form 990, the return that tax-exempt organizations such as nonprofit charities, hospitals and universities must file annually.

The Senate Finance Committee heard testimony about U.S. tax policy at a hearing on tax fundamentals in advance of reform efforts that Congress plans to undertake.

The IRS Oversight Board encouraged the Internal Revenue Service to strive for not just "good," but "great" performance, in its 2007 annual report.

An Oregon federal court has permanently barred John Fitzgerald of Portland and his three daughters - Marilyn Dial, Martha Farr Sharp and Karen Gray - from marketing a tax fraud scheme involving sham nonprofit corporations that customers used to evade federal taxes, the Justice Department said.

The Internal Revenue Service said it would soon issue guidance to help businesses determine how to use the special 50 percent bonus depreciation allowance included with the recent economic stimulus legislation.

An increasing number of taxpayers filed or intended to file their tax returns online this tax season, according to recent data supplied by both the Internal Revenue Service and global researcher The Conference Board.As of early March, IRS statistics showed that the 2008 e-filing level was up 5 percent over the same period last year. And in a survey undertaken just prior to tax season, The Conference Board found that 40 percent of taxpayers planned to file online, up from 34 percent three years ago. More than two thirds of consumers said that they have filed online for three years or more, up from less than 55 percent in 2005.

IRS REHIRES PRIVATE COLLECTORSWashington, D.C. — The Internal Revenue Service has decided to renew the contracts of two companies involved in its controversial private debt collection program.

The Senate has overwhelmingly passed a housing relief bill that includes a $7,000 tax credit for purchasers of foreclosed homes in addition to $4 billion in grants for local communities to buy and repair foreclosed properties.

Steinway Replaces Deloitte with UHY

Despite a recently issued safe harbor now available for like-kind exchanges of vacation properties, the Internal Revenue Service continues to keep taxpayers guessing on the precise boundaries of the law itself.Last September, the Government Accountability Office came out with a critical report on like-kind exchanges in which it complained that the IRS needed to give taxpayers more guidance on like-kind exchanges of second homes and vacation retreats. The GAO claimed that the IRS had agreed with its findings and had promised to release more specific guidance. The latest IRS response seems to fall short of that commitment.

A federal judge has ordered the Internal Revenue Service to refund over $20,000 in taxes to the Democratic Leadership Council, saying the IRS broke its own rules by first granting tax-exempt status to the DLC and then revoking it.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has introduced a bill to help struggling homeowners with a refundable tax credit, even as a bipartisan Senate bill faced a threatened veto from the Bush administration.

The Internal Revenue Service has inadequate security controls over its routers and switches, jeopardizing sensitive taxpayer information, according to a report by the Treasury Department's inspector general.

The Senate passed an amendment to the compromise housing bill that will allow money-losing businesses to elect to use accumulated alternative minimum tax credits and research and development credits early.

The Internal Revenue Service has been getting an average of more than 50,000 extra phone calls per day as a result of questions about the economic stimulus payment, and has received 379,000 tax returns from individuals filing solely to receive the stimulus payment.

The Internal Revenue Service said it would open many of its offices for another Saturday to help taxpayers who don't normally file tax returns receive their economic stimulus payments.

Lisa Hrizco Blechman of Santa Clarita Valley, Calif., apologized at her sentencing hearing for trying to sick her two dogs on an IRS employee who taped a summons on her front door.