Tax strategies

Corporations that issued stock options to their executives claimed tax deductions that were collectively $52 billion larger than the expenses shown on their books in 2008, according to newly released data.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has scaled back the carried interest and S corporation tax provisions, in addition to several others, after the tax extenders and unemployment legislation hit a speed bump in the Senate.

The upper and lower houses of the Swiss Parliament have ratified a deal between the Swiss and U.S. governments to share information on approximately 4,450 U.S.-based customers of Swiss bank UBS with the U.S. government.

The tax extender and unemployment benefits bill failed to clear a 60-vote hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday.

The House approved the Small Business Jobs Tax Relief Act of 2010 on Tuesday by a bipartisan majority of 247-170.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued regulations outlining how the 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services in the health care reform bill should be administered.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has introduced an amendment to the tax extenders bill that would extend the transaction closing date for the First-Time Homebuyer Credit from June 30 to Sept. 30.

The G-20 group of finance ministers decided last weekend against levying a global bank tax amid fierce opposition from some countries, but that doesn’t mean the idea of taxing banks to pay for future bailouts is gone completely.

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The State of California, struggling with a $19 billion budget deficit, is considering legalizing and taxing marijuana in a referendum on the November ballot.

The Swiss Parliament’s upper house voted Thursday in favor of Switzerland’s deal with the U.S. government to share the identities of 4,450 U.S. clients of UBS with numbered bank accounts.

Both the American Institute of CPAs and the American Bar Association Tax Section have told the Internal Revenue Service it should withdraw its proposed rule that would require companies with more than $10 million in total assets to disclose uncertain tax positions on the new Schedule UTP, Uncertain Tax Position Statement.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., wants to put a stop to U.S. companies that transfer customer service calls halfway around the world.

The House approved a bill to extend many expiring and expired tax breaks through the end of the year, as well as extend unemployment insurance benefits through the end of November.

An overwhelming majority of senior financial executives say their tax department’s top priority is not tax savings or their effective rate, but timely and accurate tax return and financial reporting, according to a new survey of CFOs and senior comptrollers by Grant Thornton LLP.

Extending the 2001 and 2003 federal income tax cuts would sharply increase the national debt, even if the extensions were limited to individuals earning below $200,000, according to a new report by the Pew Economic Policy Group.

The bipartisan leaders of the Senate Finance Committee have introduced legislation to create job opportunities for veterans returning home from war by providing tax credits for businesses that hire them.

CCH has published a pair of special briefing papers on the financial reform bill that passed in the Senate last week and the tax extenders bill introduced last week in the House and Senate.

Accountants are squarely on the front line of the problems with the 2010 estate tax hiatus, according to practitioners and estate-planning attorneys.