Tax research

A federal court in Salt Lake City has sentenced a trio of men to more than 29 months in jail in connection with the promotion and sale of a tax and investment fraud scheme to more than 300 clients.All three defendants pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to committing mail and wire fraud in connection with the promotion of the tax and investment fraud scheme.

The Texas State Board of Public Accountancy has stayed its license suspension of KPMG LLP in connection with the Big Four firm’s sales of questionable legal tax shelters.In a consent order approved by the board, KPMG’s license was suspended for five years -- although the stay order means that the firm will be placed on probation for the next three years.

A domestic focus of President Bush’s State of the Union address was a proposal aimed at expanding access to affordable health insurance that faces a tough political road to becoming reality.

Thanks to a seldom-observed holiday, the Internal Revenue Service announced that taxpayers will have until April 17, to file their 2006 returns and pay any taxes due.

Swiss finance officials are stepping up talk of raising taxes on the rich foreigners who use the country and its lax residency requirements as a tax haven.

In response to requests from Congress, the Government Accountability Office has released a new report outlining a trio of approaches that would reduce the tax gap.

Officials in Kansas City, Mo., told a local paper that more than two dozen computer tapes containing confidential taxpayer information are missing.

The Internal Revenue Service has launched a new Internet-based version of its popular Exempt Organizations Workshop covering tax compliance issues confronted by small and midsized tax-exempt organizations, including charities and churches.

More than a dozen senators have signed on to sponsor a bill that would stop the Internal Revenue Service from using private debt collectors to collect unpaid taxes.

Washington radio station WTOP has reported that the federal government is still chasing down nearly $2.8 billion in taxes from its own employees.Based on documents obtained by the station through Freedom of Information Act requests, WTOP reported this week that more than 450,000 active and retired federal employees did not voluntarily comply with federal income tax requirements for the 2005 tax year.

With just about every politician in Washington in agreement that some permanent fix needs to be made to the alternative minimum tax, the Tax Policy Center has released a report outlining a number of possibilities.Created as a parallel tax structure in 1969 that was aimed at preventing the super-rich from using deductions and shelters to avoid paying taxes, inflation has turned the AMT into a different monster. The center’s report notes that fewer than 400,000 families were affected by the tax in 1985, this year, about 3.8 million households will see their tax bills rise by an average of $6,813.

A New Hampshire man has said that he will defend himself against capture on tax charges if necessary, according to U.S. marshals.The government said that they have no plan of escalating the situation, after a jury decided that Edward and Elaine Brown plotted to hide their income and avoid taxes on Elaine’s nearly $2 million income between 1996 and 2003. According to the jury, over the past decade, the couple also used more than $215,000 of postal money orders to pay for their hilltop compound and for Elaine Brown's dental offices.

The Internal Revenue Service has released a fact sheet explaining the 2006 alternative motor vehicle credit allowed for 44 automobiles certified as eligible.

When it comes to the foreign earned income exclusion, a federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that Antarctica does not qualify as a foreign country.The Seventh Circuit court affirmed a U.S. Tax Court decision that the 2001 earnings of a U.S. citizen living in Ross Island, Antarctica, are subject to federal taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that both its e-file and Free File programs are now accepting taxpayer returns.The agency is continuing its push to have taxpayers elect to file their returns electronically, boasting that users who e-file and choose direct deposit can receive their refund in half the normal time. All return information in protected through encryption and taxpayers will receive acknowledgement within 48 hours that the IRS has accepted the return.

The U.S. Tax Court will now require the Internal Revenue Service to file an answer in all small tax cases.The amendments to the court’s rules will apply to all petitions filed after March 13. Small tax cases are currently defined as cases where the amount of deficiency does not exceed $50,000.

Last week, it was again time for National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson to roll out yet another congressionally-mandated report detailing 20 of the biggest problems facing taxpayers.What’s impressive is that, for yet another year, her beefs were so fresh.

At times, taxing authorities give out surprising beneficial rulings. The only problem is, you must ask for the ruling. For example, there was my October 24, 2006, WebCPA column about an advisory opinion issued by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.It answered the following question: Are you taxed as a New York resident if you move into a New York nursing home for care because you are incompetent and in need of constant medical supervision? According to the opinion, the individual, lacking intent to move, remained a resident of Florida despite the move to a New York nursing home for care.

Two accountants have entered guilty pleas in connection with the sale of legally-questionable tax shelters.

Wolters Kluwer business CCH announced that Mike Sabbatis has been named to the newly-created position of president for CCH Tax and Accounting U.S.