Tax strategies

Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell has vetoed legislation that would have taxed bonuses paid to people who work for financial companies that received federal bailouts.

H&R Block has closed about 400 of its “under-performing” tax offices out of its network of 11,000 retail tax locations, and eliminated approximately 400 positions throughout the organization.

A long-awaited Senate energy and climate change bill is being introduced Wednesday by John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., with several tax provisions that would benefit nuclear power plants.

Tax accountants and others looking for clues on how the anti-tax Tea Party movement will affect this fall’s national elections received mixed signals from voters in a number of recent ballot initiatives.

Although the overall effects of the Obama administration's health care reforms may not be known for years, they promise to significantly affect CPAs and their clients.

2010

The recently enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, relies heavily on new tax provisions in the Internal Revenue Code to implement many of the goals of health care reform. The effective dates for many of these tax provisions are delayed - some do not take effect until 2013, 2014 or even 2018.

The majority of CFOs see state taxes increasing for their companies and believe that state and local tax compliance has become more demanding than federal tax compliance, according to a new survey by Grant Thornton.

The initial meeting of the White House deficit commission kicked off as a bipartisan panel considered ways to curb the growing federal budget deficit and the national debt.

A change in the structure of the taxation of carried interest, passed by the House last December and included in the Obama administration budget for 2011, is becoming more likely as the Senate searches for revenue offsets.

In an economy still struggling on many fronts, installment sales offer a useful tool for many taxpayers to create liquidity to buy and sell property in an otherwise "credit-sparse" environment. With correct planning, the installment method can also defer taxable gain on these sales and, therefore, provide an additional reason to commit to an installment sales strategy.

A flood of enacted and proposed legislation and regulations is making the international tax arena one of particular interest to CPAs and their clients.

The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing Wednesday on ways to provide energy-related tax incentives to encourage more “green” jobs.

The Internal Revenue Service said that members of the military and certain civilians providing earthquake relief in Haiti have additional time to file their 2009 returns and pay any taxes due.

IBM has introduced software to help governments around the world collect delinquent tax debt.

Paychex has introduced a new Web page and online calculator to help businesses determine their tax savings if they take advantage of the recently passed HIRE Act to hire new employees.

Both the American Institute of CPAs and the American Bar Association Section of Taxation have urged Congress to correct the current state of federal estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes.

With economic uncertainty still lingering, many Americans plan to use their tax refunds conservatively, according to a new survey.

Vertex has enhanced its corporate tax software, the Indirect Tax O Series, with extra features including better management of tax exemption certificates.

Tea Party activists are planning an Online Tax Revolt that will send an army of avatars on a virtual march on Washington on Tax Day, April 15.