Tax research

A new set of proposed regulations from the Internal Revenue Service aims to change the way companies use accounting methods to switch profits from countries with high corporate tax to countries where corporate taxes are low.The regs - all 85 pages of them - create an ambitious regime with a number of nebulous new concepts, including an "investor model," to insure that businesses value intangibles, such as marketing, research and development, and patents, in a way that will maximize exposure to U.S. tax.

Despite concerns over the rising deficit, both houses of Congress sent a $6.1 billion Katrina tax-relief bill to President Bush for his signature without a dissenting vote being cast.

RIA, a part of the Thomson Corp. providing information and software to tax professionals, has computed the changes to next year's tax brackets, standard deductions, personal exemptions and other important tax breaks.

Richard Hatch, who won $1 million on the first season of the CBS reality show "Survivor," pleaded not guilty to charges that he failed to pay taxes on his winnings and other income. He was released on a $50,000 bond.

In response to the housing crisis as a result of Hurricane Katrina, House Financial Services chairman Michael G. Oxley, R-Ohio, and Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., said they would adjust an affordable housing fund, currently in pending legislation, in order to meet housing needs of Katrina survivors.

Both the House and Senate passed nearly $5 billion in tax cut bills, aimed at helping victims of Hurricane Katrina and the people who provide them shelter.

The Government Accountability Office released a comprehensive overview of the tax reform debate.

Moving on from its recent legal troubles, KPMG named vice chairs for its tax services and tax services operations.

Although Congress has authorized tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks to help American families cope with rising college costs, millions of taxpayers are failing to cash in on this government assistance.

The Internal Revenue Service said victims of Hurricane Katrina will have until Jan. 3, 2006 to file any returns, pay any taxes, or make any deposits due -- extending an earlier announced reprieve.

The heads of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform announced that both of the panel's meetings scheduled for September will be postponed indefinitely.

Trustfile, a manufacturer of electronic state sales and use tax e-filing and payment technology, announced a reselling agreement with Independent Systems and Programming, a developer of sales and use tax calculation software, databases and forms.

The decision by the Internal Revenue Service to launch a new compliance study of S corporations has drawn a mixed response from tax practitioners and industry groups.

The Internal Revenue Service currently has no corporate strategy to combat identify theft, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Until it adopts an agency-wide strategy, it will be unable to help taxpayers and the government combat what TIGTA calls "the growing threat" of identity theft and support the prosecution of offenders.

A federal judge has filed paperwork alerting the Internal Revenue Service that he plans to halt their experiment in outsourcing debt collection, siding with a Texas company that claimed they had been unfairly excluded from the bidding process.

Plans by Internal Revenue Service officials and federal lawmakers to establish new national certification and testing requirements for unlicensed tax return preparers are drawing cautious support from mainstream tax professionals.

The Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005, passed as part of the 2005 Energy Act and signed by President Bush on Aug. 8, 2005, includes a series of new credits aimed at encouraging the purchase of various types of new alternative fuel vehicles.

With Congress preparing to reconvene in early September, Senate Majority Leader William H. Frist said a vote to fully repeal the estate tax will be tops on the to-do list.

Reports are that MCI, formerly WorldCom Inc., is close to a settlement that would pay out $315 million to 14 states and the District of Columbia in order to settle back tax claims.

The Internal Revenue Service will offer special relief to taxpayers in the disaster areas struck by Hurricane Katrina.