Tax research

Automated sales tax solutions provider SpeedTax and CPA and business advisory firm Wipfli have partnered in a venture to deliver SpeedTax’s software-as-a-service sales tax applications to Wipfli’s Microsoft Dynamics GP customers.

An Arizona tax preparer has been charged with diverting thousands of dollars’ worth of his clients’ tax refunds to his own bank account.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun offering self-assistance options at some of its offices that give taxpayers limited access to computers and phones so they can reach the IRS’s Web site and toll-free phone lines without waiting in a long line, but those efforts can still be frustrating.

An Ohio CPA urges the National Taxpayer Advocate to lobby elected officials to do their own taxes.

Michigan CPA firms Frank & Freedman and Hirsch, Subelsky & Associates have merged to form Frank, Hirsch, Subelsky & Freedman.

There is an additional standard deduction for those who don’t qualify to itemize their tax deductions, but who do pay state or local real estate taxes, according to the Internal Revenue Service. This deduction is available for the 2008 and 2009 tax years.

In the wake of its decision not to renew contracts with two private debt collection agencies, the Internal Revenue Service now appears set to review other types of outside contracts.

CCH has closely integrated its CorpSystem Sales Tax Office software with Microsoft Dynamics GP.

A Florida man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for hiring a hit man to murder an Internal Revenue Service employee who was auditing him and his construction business.

The Internal Revenue Service has decided not to renew its contracts with two private debt collection agencies.

The Internal Revenue Service said that taxpayers are filing their taxes earlier and receiving larger refunds so far this year, citing early filing season statistics.

All taxpayers dread the prospect of facing an Internal Revenue Service audit. Here is some advice from the New Jersey Society of CPAs on some steps taxpayers can take to minimize the likelihood they will be audited or ensure a more positive experience if they are:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told lawmakers that he was open to finding other ways to close the budget deficit besides limiting tax deductions for charitable contributions and mortgage interest for high-income taxpayers.

Sage North America has sold its tax compliance services business and enterprise-level customer base to Empower Corp.

A UBS executive told a congressional committee probing tax shelter abuses that approximately 47,000 U.S. customers had accounts with the Swiss bank, but declined to release the names of the vast majority of them.

If your mortgage debt is partly or entirely forgiven during tax years 2007 – 2012, you may be able to claim special tax relief and exclude the debt forgiveness income, said the IRS.

Sabrix has debuted Taxcast, an online, interactive tool to help businesses stay on top of the latest sales and use tax obligations from 13,253 U.S. taxing jurisdictions.

One third of public companies did not satisfy the minimum requirements of disclosure of their tax reserves last year as required by new rules put in place by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

American International Group, which is receiving between $152 billion and $163 billion so far in taxpayer bailout funds, has sued the federal government to recover over $306 million for 1997 taxes, penalties and interest that the insurance company claims it was illegally charged.

Taxpayers will file 240 million federal tax returns and supplemental documents during calendar year 2009, according to projections from the IRS Office of Research, but that’s down 4.3 percent from estimated return filings of 250.8 million for 2008.