Tax practice

The Internal Revenue Service is providing additional time -- through Oct. 16 -- to file 2004 and 2005 individual income tax returns for taxpayers hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina.

All sorts of press releases and product announcements come my way throughout the course of a week, besides all the material I go out seeking to consider running on WebCPA.

The tax-exempt status of more than 550 hospitals appears to be the latest nonprofit segment coming under scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service.

IRS TAKES ON CREDIT COUNSELORS' TAX EXEMPTION: The Internal Revenue Service said that it plans to revoke the tax-exempt status of the 41 credit-counseling agencies it has audited as part of a crackdown on industry practices.Over the past two years, the IRS has audited 63 credit-counseling agencies, representing more than half of the $1 billion industry's revenues. The 41 organizations whose audits have been completed have either already had their exemptions revoked, or the IRS has proposed revocation and the groups are appealing, a process that can take several months.

The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel has released its 2005 Annual Report summarizing its new recommendations for improvements in the way the Internal Revenue Service does business.The report forwarded suggestions to the IRS representing a variety of concerns, including six suggestions regarding refunds and refund anticipation loans, and recommendations to change the instructions for offers in compromise.

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously denied a taxpayer group's challenge to nearly $300 million in tax breaks given to a DaimlerChrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio.In the 9-0 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the municipal taxpayer group had no standing to challenge tax or spending decisions based solely on their status as taxpayers. He wrote that the argument added "yet another level of conjecture to their already hypothetical claim of injury."

The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, signed by President Bush on May 17, 2006, took so long in coming that it still carried the "Act of 2005" label.Far from having no surprises, however, the final bill contained a generous handful of provisions that had been far out of the money only weeks before. While some of these unexpected changes impact businesses, the most high-profile surprises appear to focus on the individual taxpayer. These include the lifting of the adjusted gross income cap on Roth IRA conversions, the raising of the "Kiddie Tax" age limit to 18 years, and the increase in the AMT exemption amounts.

When recognizing benefits from uncertain tax positions in their financial statements, what level of confidence should corporations have that those positions will be sustained? How do they determine whether or not their positions meet that threshold for recognition?And if the position meets that recognition threshold, what share of the related benefit should be included in the entity's financial statements? What actions or events could change that recognition status for future financial statements?

The Internal Revenue Service will survey nearly 50,000 taxpayers this month to help the agency improve the way it provides taxpayer services.

In the wake of a failed effort to push through a permanent repeal of the estate tax, two Republican Congressman have introduced companion bills to form a new "Securing America's Future Economy Commission."

For the next four months, the Internal Revenue Service's Statistics of Income Division will be testing a prototype SOI Table Wizard.

In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, Comptroller General David Walker said that it is impossible to know th e total amount of corporate tax avoidance for a number of reasons.

I've always believed in the old adage, "Never say never."

Intuit Inc. is among the latest companies receiving an informal inquiry from the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its stock option granting practices.

The Internal Revenue Service's Office of Taxpayer Burden Reduction is asking the public for recommendations on ways to reduce taxpayer burden.

A Republican-lead effort to repeal the estate tax failed to even reach a vote on the Senate floor.

A former Loveland, Colo., tax preparer charged with filing a false tax return for a couple in 2001 has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court.

A Los Angeles-based firm who advertised that tax delinquents could settle with the Internal Revenue Service for "pennies on the dollar," is facing two lawsuits.

Having been scrapped from Congress's legislative agenda in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a vote to permanently repeal the estate tax could be held in the Senate this week.

A laptop containing fingerprints of nearly 300 Internal Revenue Service employees and job applicants is missing, according to published reports.