Tax practice

Presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., proposed cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent, matching Rudolph Giuliani's plan.

A watchdog group, Americans United for Church and State, has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate a Nevada church whose pastor called for the election of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

S corporations are the nation's most common corporate tax designations.

Diane Siriani, a CPA and principal of Siriani and Associates, has formed a joint venture with Don Burniac of Associated Tax and Accounting to introduce an online tax-filing service.

The Congressional Budget Office has released a report on various options for stimulating the economy, including cutting personal and corporate taxes.

Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation has released a list of tax provisions that expired at the end of last year, as well as several scheduled to end this year and in subsequent years.

The Internal Revenue Service has amended its list of "frivolous" legal arguments used by people who want to avoid paying taxes, adding four new claims to the set it considers without merit.

The Internal Revenue Service has opened its electronic filing season for all filers except those who must file five forms affected by the alternative minimum tax.

Presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani outlined a plan to reform the Tax Code and cut taxes.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson released a report to Congress pointing out a variety of problems, including the impact of late-year Tax Code changes on taxpayers.

The Internal Revenue Service has made several changes to the 2007 instructions for Form 1040 and 1040NR as a result of the Tax Technical Corrections Act of 2007.

President Bush is considering a variety of options for an economic stimulus package to perk up the economy, reportedly including a possible tax rebate of $500 for individuals, along with business tax breaks to encourage equipment investments.

The Internal Revenue Service said it is now possible to electronically file a tax return in which the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number and the Social Security Number don't match.

The Internal Revenue Service has established rules for substantiating lump-sum charitable contributions made through the Combined Federal Campaign or similar programs such as a United Way campaign.

The tax prep season is just upon us, and it has some very interesting wrinkles already. To begin with, Congress once again enacted legislation just before it left for the Holiday recess that directly impacted tax return preparation. Then there is the concern over severe implications of the tax preparer penalty changes.

CCH INTROS TAX INCENTIVES FINDERCCH has debuted a Web-based tool designed to find local incentives that can reduce income, property, and sales and use taxes, as well as identify enterprise zones and non-tax financial incentives. The Business Incentives Navigator on the CCH Tax Research Network allows users to search for statewide and location-based incentives. Users select an industry, followed by an incentive category such as investment, job creation, or research and development. Then they can select one or more jurisdictions.

Tax prep chains H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt said they are not concerned by the Internal Revenue Service's proposals to restrict the marketing of refund anticipation loans and require consent before tax preparers can share taxpayer information with third parties.

The alternative minimum tax isn't the only tax that will continue to surprise taxpayers if Congress fails to act on its repeal. The estate tax, currently set to expire in 2010, will return with a vengeance to a full 55 percent in 2011 if Congress does nothing.The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that in 2009 there will be 9,600 estates subject to the estate tax. While that number falls to zero in 2010, it will jump to nearly 62,000 in 2011, with increases every year thereafter.

Since this is our first column of the New Year, it may be particularly appropriate to look back into 2007 to try to predict some of what will happen in 2008. The history of important tax developments that took place in 2007 is rich and varied. Shakespeare's "What is past is prologue" was never so apt.In that spirit, we have selected 10 developments as standouts in terms of their impact on the future, and especially on 2008 tax strategies. We explain each of these top 10 below. And, of course, respecting the difficulty of prioritizing just 10 2007 tax developments as most significant, we conclude by listing several more as runners up!

President Bush is reportedly mulling an economic stimulus package that could include further tax cuts this year.