Tax practice

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.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations for determining whether income is derived from sources within a U.S. possession or territory, and whether it is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within a territory.

Treasury Inspector General Faults IRS Security

The Internal Revenue Service is postponing its tax-filing deadline for victims of the recent floods, storms and tornadoes in four states.

The Internal Revenue Service is looking for new members to apply for its Information Reporting Program Advisory Committee, including tax preparers.

The Justice Department's Tax Division hailed its victory in what it called an "important tax shelter case" that was decided in a Texas district court.

Senate Democratic and Republican leaders have reached a compromise on a bill to provide tax breaks and refinancing assistance to beleaguered homeowners hit by the mortgage crisis.

A new coalition wants to eliminate the taxation of Americans working abroad.

DiCicco, Gulman & Co. Gets World Series Trophy Visit

It didn't take long for critics to start throwing eggs at Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan for overhauling the structure of the government's financial regulatory agencies.

New York State lawmakers have dropped a plan by former Governor Eliot Spitzer to raise taxes on millionaires.