Tax research

The government's Base Realignment and Closure Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to review a Pentagon plan to move thousands of Defense Department finance and accounting jobs.

Already with a lengthy to-do list before adjourning for its August recess, reports have Congress moving to address the future of the estate tax soon.

A group of congressional representatives has asked the Internal Revenue Service to hold off on plans to shut down 68 of the agency's Taxpayer Assistance Centers.

Reports are that lobbyists for Accenture Ltd. will be successful in convincing congressional tax writers to make small changes in a technical corrections bill that would that ensure the consulting group is grandfathered in under a corporate tax bill originally passed in 2004.

The White House midyear budget says that an increase in tax revenues, mostly coming from relatively wealthy taxpayers, along with a good stock market performance, will drop the deficit to $333 billion this year.

Corporate officers or authorized agents can now sign employment tax forms by facsimile, including alternative signature methods such as computer software programs or mechanical devices.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board published a draft of a proposed interpretation, "Accounting for Uncertain Tax Positions," yesterday. The draft seeks to reduce the diversity in practices associated with recognition and measurement in the accounting for income taxes.

Avalara, a provider of Web-based sales tax solutions for the small and midsized business market, and Taxware, a provider of global transaction tax calculation and compliance software, have entered into a strategic partnership.

Fixing the controversial alternative minimum tax has been termed a priority for the President Bush's Tax Reform Panel, according to a key White House advisor.

The popularity of donating used cars to charity has increased in recent years, to the point of creating a subculture of companies that do nothing but collect and distribute old cars. Billboards, radio ads, flyers in the mail - they all attempt to encourage people to donate vehicles to charitable organizations in return for hefty tax deductions.

An initiative to breath life into the harmonization of corporate taxation rules across the European Union - which got a nudge from the European finance ministers' meeting in September - is now rumbling its way through the Brussels-based EU institutions.

* IRS CONTINUES CRACKDOWN ON FRIVOLOUS CASES: The Internal Revenue Service is reminding taxpayers that the agency isn't kidding around when it comes to frivolous cases aimed at delaying tax collections.

The decline in ethics that took place over the 1990s hurt not only the taxpayers who took positions they shouldn't have taken, but it also hurt responsible tax practitioners, who saw their business taken away by the more aggressive practices, according to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark W. Everson.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson urged the Internal Revenue Service to focus more broadly on steps to increase voluntary compliance.

Some taxpayers apparently believe that the ability to claim a charitable deduction for donation of an automobile ended on Dec. 31, 2004. The advertisements on the radio would make one believe that nothing has changed, and that you can still claim a deduction for donated automobiles just as before Jan. 1.

Looking to accelerate its growth in the online and packaged software tax industry, H&R Block yesterday acquired San Diego-based TaxNet Inc., a provider of customized online tax services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

While the Internal Revenue Service is working overtime to send tax cheats to prison, officials at the tax service are discovering that a considerable portion of them are already behind bars.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Treasury appropriations bill last week to provide the Internal Revenue Service with $10.5 billion in fiscal year 2006. The Senate has yet to take up consideration of the bill.

Senators Connie Mack and John Breaux, chairman and vice-chairman of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, respectively, announced that the panel's 10th meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 20. The meeting will be held at the Renaissance Hotel here. The panel has held nine meetings in which witnesses testified about problems with the current tax system and various options for reform. At this meeting, panel members will discuss issues associated with reform, but there will not be any testimony presented. The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform was established by President Bush in January and charged with recommending reforms to the tax code that would make the U.S. tax system simpler, fairer and more growth-oriented. The panel's final recommendations are due by Sept. 30, 2005.

Some 17 states were admitted as full or associate members of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement's governing board by petitioning states, in the continuing effort to develop a simplified multistate sales tax collection system. According to BNA, the action means the new system could begin operation Oct. 1, as retailers would be able to register and begin collecting and remitting taxes on remote transactions using the simplified system. Under the terms of the SSUTA, the system could not take effect until at least 10 states comprising 20 percent of the total population of sales tax states, were found to be in substantial compliance with the agreement. The 17 states on the governing board represent 25.3 percent of the population of states that levy sales taxes. The states that gained full membership are Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and West Virginia. The six states that are associate members are Arkansas, Ohio, North Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Wyoming. The Streamlined Sales Tax Project is an effort by states to implement uniform tax rules in return for retailers agreeing to collect and remit sales taxes on remote transactions.