Tax research

The Internal Revenue Service touted Earned Income Tax Awareness Day as a way to raise consciousness about the credit for low-income taxpayers as the economic crisis forces more Americans into lower tax brackets.

New York Governor David Paterson has signed a bill expanding the regulation of CPAs throughout the state.

Over 33 million callers could not reach the Internal Revenue Service’s toll-free assistance number last year to ask about economic stimulus payments, and the IRS could get swamped again this year with calls.

A Republican congressman has introduced a bill that would provide all U.S. taxpayers with immunity from IRS penalties and interest, but the main goal seems to be tweaking his Democratic colleagues.

The House has approved an $819 billion economic stimulus package despite unanimous Republican opposition.

Former H&R Block Chairman and CEO Mark Ernst has taken a job with the Internal Revenue Service as deputy commissioner for operations support.

The Senate Finance Committee has approved approximately $522 billion in tax cuts, incentives and investments by a vote of 14-9.

Congress and the Obama administration are crafting what is shaping up to be the single most expensive spending bill in American history, and nobody can agree on whether it will work.

The Senate Finance Committee is considering President Obama's economic stimulus package as leaders call for increased tax cuts.

Online sales tax management software developer SpeedTax has introduced business partner programs for technology consultants who resell products from Sage, Microsoft and Intuit.

South Florida accounting firm Daszkal Bolton is the latest to offer services to clients who have suffered losses from Bernard Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

The House Ways and Means Committee has passed a bill containing $275 billion in tax cuts as part of the overall economic stimulus package, approving it on a party-line vote of 24 to 13.

A former investment advisor has pleaded guilty to helping Ernst & Young market illegal tax shelters.

The continuing economic slowdown means that tax preparation and tax planning will be more critical than ever, and this will be reflected in the questions that taxpayers will ask of their preparers during tax season."Economic uncertainty, coupled with tax law changes, will make this season busier than normal," said Mark Albrecht, CEO of XCM Solutions LLC, a provider of workflow and automation solutions. "Staffing and workload challenges will be even more acute."

The Internal Revenue Service's announcement of two new alternative dispute programs for offer-in-compromise and trust fund recovery penalty cases comes as welcome news to practitioners who regularly practice before IRS Appeals."The IRS should be complimented in trying to do programs like these," said Marty Davidoff, CPA, Esq., of E. Martin Davidoff and Associates. "It's the IRS at its best. They're looking for different ways to resolve controversies."

CONGRESS KILLS MINIMUM DISTRIBUTIONS FOR 2009Washington, D.C - Congress has passed a waiver of the minimum distribution rule for 2009, but not for 2008, for employer-provided qualified retirement plans and individual retirement accounts and annuities in H.R. 7327, the Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act of 2008. The Treasury Department is studying whether to provide relief with regard to 2008 minimum distributions.

CCH spent nearly a century selling direct only. But two years ago, the vendor turned things around with a 100 percent indirect model for its sales tax application suite - CorpSystem Sales Tax Solutions.The vendor wanted to form relationships with top-tier Microsoft and Sage channel members who traditionally focus primarily on accounting systems.

On Dec. 16, 2008, the Internal Revenue Service released the long-awaited final tax return preparer regulations. Although they had been expected to be issued in November, they were further delayed by the changes to Code Sec. 6694 included in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. In addition to the final regulations, the agency also promulgated Notice 2009-5, providing some interim guidance for the 2008 tax filing season, and Revenue Procedure 2009-11, updating the list of IRS forms that are subject to the preparer penalties.The final regulations do not differ significantly from the proposed regulations, but make several changes in response to comments received. The interim guidance responds to the statutory changes made by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and can be relied on by tax return preparers until final guidance is issued. Tax return preparers will want to make sure that they are familiar with these new requirements to avoid penalties as the 2008 tax return season gets underway.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has sent a letter to Congress signed by 27 U.S. companies asking for a two-year easing of taxes on debt purchases to be included in economic stimulus legislation.

The Senate Finance Committee has approved Timothy Geithner as the next Treasury secretary despite concerns over his taxes.