Tax practice

A federal court has permanently barred a Queensbury, N.Y., man, Robert L. Schulz, and his organizations, We the People Congress and We the People Foundation, from promoting a tax scheme that encouraged businesses to stop withholding taxes from their employees' wages.

President Bush said he is mulling the possibility of simplifying the corporate tax system, as long as the changes don't affect the amount of taxes the government collects.

The Internal Revenue Service wants teachers to know that a recent tax law change won't affect the way their tax is paid in the upcoming school year.

One of the more intriguing ideas in the energy bill that the House passed over the weekend was that of doing a "carbon audit" of the U.S. Tax Code. Exactly how Congress proposes to conduct such an audit is another matter.

Longstanding weaknesses in the financial systems of government agencies pose a "formidable challenge," according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office.

The Internal Revenue Service said that owners of thousands of Ford, Toyota and Lexus hybrid vehicles can continue to claim the Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit, but the phase-out period for claiming the credit has already begun for Toyota and Lexus owners because of strong sales of the company's hybrids.

Sixty percent of Internal Revenue Service employees were duped into giving control of their passwords to unauthorized callers, according to an inspection report that found lingering problems with computer security years after they were supposed to have been corrected.

The Internal Revenue Service has released drafts of the updated income tax forms for corporations and partnerships, and is asking for comments before it finalizes the changes for tax year 2008 and beyond.

PRIVATE COLLECTION PROGRAM SURVIVES HOUSE VOTEBy a margin of 240-179, House lawmakers approved funding for the Internal Revenue

It is always difficult to get the Supreme Court to review a case, but this seems especially true for tax cases. The recent court term just ended proved to be no exception. Of several cases practitioners were hoping that the court would accept, only one received a grant of certiorari in the closing days of the term.It is the decisions for which the court grants certiorari where the fight, and the hope, goes on. It is, however, in the cases with respect to which certiorari is denied where taxpayers must finally face the facts or explore other remedies.

Fewer taxpayers took advantage of the Internal Revenue Service's free electronic tax return filing service in 2007 than in previous years, according to a new audit report released by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.Moreover, the audit identified multiple calculation errors made by the commercial software of Free File Alliance firms.

The Internal Revenue Service outlined the steps it plans to take to close the approximately $290 billion tax gap by encouraging more people and businesses to voluntarily pay what they owe the government, but it still faces an uphill battle.

Representatives of private equity firms, hedge funds and other types of investment firms fought back against proposals to raise taxes on their incomes, telling the Senate Finance Committee that critics have misconceptions about their industry.

The National Society of Accountants is protesting an obscure new tax-reporting standard that it complains flew "under the radar" when it was stealthily inserted into an unrelated piece of Congressional legislation.

The Internal Revenue Service named Linda Stiff as the replacement for outgoing Acting Commissioner Kevin M. Brown.

The Internal Revenue Service has granted relief to some homeowners struggling to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf area in August 2005 so they can continue to qualify for a low-income housing credit.

Following on the heels of his former boss, Internal Revenue Service Acting Commissioner Kevin M. Brown plans to leave the IRS in mid-September to become chief operating officer of the American Red Cross.

After the release of a stinging report criticizing the Internal Revenue Service for shutting down the TeleFile program, leading members of the Senate Finance Committee lashed out at the IRS's decision.

Accounting firm BDO Seidman saw its revenue increase $31 million to $589 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007.

Members of Congress have been calling for raising taxes on the profits of private equity firms and hedge funds, along with taxing the incomes of their top managers at the same rate as managers of corporations.