Tax research

The American Enterprise Institute has released a new public opinion study that focuses on Americans’ historical attitudes to taxes.The study, “Public Opinion on Taxes,” was compiled by senior fellow Karlyn Bowman, who used available polling data to examine how attitudes toward paying taxes have changed over the past half century.

The Internal Revenue Service is reminding taxpayers to file their tax returns by the April 17 deadline and to pay as much as they can of any taxes they owe to minimize any accrued penalties and interest.

The Internal Revenue Service has submitted its Taxpayer Assistance Blueprint to Congress, as part of its response to Capitol Hill’s demand for the development of a five-year plan to improve the delivery of taxpayer service. The blueprint contains the joint response of the IRS, the IRS Oversight Board and the National Taxpayer Advocate. The groups all said that the document represents the most extensive IRS research ever conducted into the needs, preferences and behaviors of taxpayers and partners who assist them in complying with the tax laws, such as volunteer and paid tax return preparers.

After its financing partners decided that they would be leaving the line of business, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. announced that it will stop offering "pre-season" refund anticipation loans.Unlike other tax-refund anticipation loans that are made after a taxpayer has filed their return, the pre-season loans were made to people before they filed, based on their pay stubs. In January, Jackson Hewitt paid $5 million to settle charges brought by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who was joined by consumer advocates in alleging that the high-interest loans were used to take advantage of low-income consumers.

A former manager for the Grateful Dead has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for tax evasion.Ronald Leon Rakow, 69, was ordered to begin his prison term in June for evading payment of $2.2 million in taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that more than 1 million business taxpayers have electronically filed tax returns so far this year.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun to urge taxpayers who need additional time to complete their tax return to submit their request for an automatic extension electronically by April 17.

For the procrastinators among us -- well, for those of us who don’t prepare taxes for a living, of course -- the concerns of tax season probably didn’t take hold until recently.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued final regulations on the treatment of nonqualified deferred compensation plans and arrangements under Section 409(a) of the tax code.

The Internal Revenue Service has updated the list of areas included as being within the "North American area," referred to in Section 274(h) of the Internal Revenue Code.The section of the tax code limits deductions for expenses incurred in connection with a convention, seminar, or similar meeting held outside the “North American area.” In a recent revenue ruling, the agency updated the list of all geographical areas currently included in the North American area for purposes of the section.

Husband and wife grape-growers in Geyserville, Calif., got some mixed news last week, after the U.S. Tax Court took a closer look at how they could depreciate improvements made to their vineyard.The court found that although Leo and Evelyn Trendadue properly classified wine grape trellises on their land as farm machinery or equipment, because the irrigation systems and well the couple built on their property have a longer class life (20 years, as opposed to 10 years) those enhancements should be classified -- and depreciated for -- as permanent land improvements.

According to published reports, House Democrats are preparing legislation to permanently shield all but the wealthiest of taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax.According to the New York Times, the plan is still in its early stages, but would have the end goal of exempting millions from the tax -- although how exactly the revenue loss would be offset remains to be determined. The newspaper said that by the close of May, House Democrats hope to draft a permanent overhaul of the AMT that would exclude anyone who earns less than about $200,000 a year -- which covers about 97 percent of taxpayers.

Over the six-plus years I’ve spent as editor-in-chief at Accounting Today, I’ve come to anticipate several certainties as tax season winds down.

A former Internal Revenue Service commissioner will head up Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc.’s internal review of fraud charges lodged last week against a major franchisee.Last week, the nation’s No. 2 tax preparer announced that Fred Goldberg, currently a partner at the Washington law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, would lead a review of charges brought by the Department of Justice. Goldberg served as IRS commissioner for three years, before returning to private practice with Skadden Arps in late 1992. That same year, he also served a stint as assistant secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy.

Dating back to 2000, the Internal Revenue Service has continued to take steps towards reversing several noncompliance trends that took hold in the 1990s.According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, compliance activities increased and results improved during the IRS’s 2006 fiscal year as the agency continues to make greater use of collection enforcement tools. Last year, enforcement revenue collected continued to increase (to $48.7 billion), although the total dollar amount of uncollected liabilities did increase, to $271 billion.

Hourly rates charged by accountants are on the rise overall, according to Intuit’s 2007 ProConnection rates survey, which polled more than 1,100 professional accountants.

A Swedish couple is battling the country’s tax board for the right to name their 6-month-old daughter “Metallica.”In addition to acting as the Swedish version of the Internal Revenue Service, the Swedish National Tax Board is in charge of the country’s population registry and issuing personal identification numbers, similar to the Social Security numbers used in the United States. As part of that process, the board also gets final approval over the names of children.

Between January 2003 and June 2006, at least 490 Internal Revenue Service computers -- some containing sensitive data -- were lost or stolen, according to a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.TIGTA said that the missing computers, and other data-sensitive equipment, were lost or stolen in 387 separate incidents. Worse, in more than 75 percent of the cases, IRS employees failed to notify the agency’s computer security office, which could have helped negate the risk to taxpayers.

The federal government is suing the leader of a national movement that claims most Americans are not required to pay income tax.

In a decidedly non-scientific survey, Money Management International found that tax time can be very different for consumers born under different sun signs.For example, the MMI survey found that Libras expecting a refund plan to receive an average refund of $2,200, while Aries are expecting a significant $800 less.