Tax strategies

The top personal income tax area of concern for technology executives that CPA Bill Melton of the Silicon Valley accounting firm Abbott, Stringham & Lynch sees in his client base is equity compensation.

Cincinnati, Baltimore and Cleveland ranked highest among large cities in their tax favorability for businesses, according to a new study by KPMG, with New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La., leading the way among smaller cities.

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing on offshore profit shifting and the U.S. tax code, examining in particular the practices of Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, while questioning an Ernst & Young tax partner who services HP.

Congress’s two tax-writing committees, the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, held a joint hearing Thursday to discuss capital gains taxes and how they might be reformed.

Government debt hit a record $16 trillion last week, accompanied by the usual calls for tax increases to help plug the gap between revenue and expenditures. But for those who believe that the way out of our deficit includes raising taxes, there’s a cautionary study that suggests otherwise.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid predicted that Congress will reach a deal after the Nov. 6 election to avert hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases and spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff” set to begin in January.

PricewaterhouseCoopers US said it will collaborate with Microsoft to develop and deploy a portfolio of services designed and branded by PwC, and powered by Microsoft.

Eleven years ago, eliminating income taxes for low-income Americans was an applause line for a Republican president. Mitt Romney in 2012 sees the number of people paying nothing as a political problem.

Politicians and policy makers always seem to be talking about “broadening the tax base” and “eliminating tax loopholes,” but rarely do we hear specifics.

Taxpayers who are still recovering from the economic downturn will get at least some relief in 2013 by way of the mandatory upward inflation-adjustments called for under the tax code, according to CCH.

Mitt Romney says he can lower income tax rates by 20 percent without costing the U.S. government revenue and without making the middle class carry a bigger share of the tax load.

The House held a hearing Thursday to discuss small business perspectives on the tax cliff, hearing testimony from a representative of the American Institute of CPAs and other witnesses.

A group of small online retailers have launched a coalition to protest against the imposition of laws requiring them to collect sales taxes from customers.

A high-ranking Internal Revenue Service official told a congressional panel that the agency is not planning to use tactics like tax liens and levies to make sure taxpayers are properly complying with the new health care reform law.

CCH has published a special report comparing the tax policies and proposals of President Barack Obama with his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney cited a group of economic studies to show that his tax-cut plan won’t increase the U.S. budget deficit or shift the tax burden to middle-income taxpayers.

Check out the digital edition of the September 2012 issue of Accounting Today.

If there’s a shortage of tax preparers for the 2014 season, it won’t be for lack of education providers.

Former President Bill Clinton delivered a scathing indictment of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s economic and tax plans to an enthusiastic crowd at the Democratic National Convention, exhorting the crowd to re-elect President Barack Obama.

Bain Capital LLC and Apollo Global Management LLC are among the private equity firms subpoenaed by New York’s attorney general in an investigation into whether they are depriving the state of tax revenue, according to two people familiar with the matter.