Tax strategies

Accounting firm Eisner LLP has introduced its 2010 Personal Tax Guide, which is available on the firm’s Web site and as a download to the Amazon Kindle e-reader.

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee said they intend to work on passing legislation to extend expiring tax breaks early next year.

The Senate’s brand-new 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services is bound to lead to some further creative thinking about how to generate extra revenue to cover the costs of health care reform.

For at least the first few days of 2010, and probably longer, executors of the estates of people dying after Dec. 31, 2009, will be operating in a difficult environment after the Senate’s failure to extend the estate tax at its current rates.

Payroll services provider Paychex has published four online tax resources for CPAs and small businesses free of charge on its Web site.

CCH has released the latest version of its online consumer tax preparation software, CompleteTax.

The Senate overcame a key procedural hurdle early Monday morning on the arduous journey to approving health care reform legislation with a 1:00 am vote approving an amendment by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that made changes to secure the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster.

The House narrowly passed a jobs bill aimed at reducing unemployment, but the legislation’s prospects are uncertain in the Senate.

Economic uncertainty, coupled with the possibility of higher tax rates, has driven taxpayers to seek more face time with their accountants.

An income tax treaty between the United States and Italy has taken effect after a decade-long delay.

IMGCAP(1)]The IRS is conducting a sweep of real estate investors that challenges deductions investors have been taking as a routine part of business for years. The sweep is based on an IRS belief that there is a “compliance gap” in this area.

CCH has issued a Special Tax Briefing on the Tax Extenders Act of 2009 that was approved this month by the House.

On my first trip to India over six years ago, I witnessed innovative tax return processing strategies. These involve concepts foreign to many tax partners and staff involved in the preparation of individual and business tax returns.

The surge in projected government spending, coupled with diminishing sources of revenue, raises the probability that lawmakers may look toward a value-added tax to close the gap.

The holidays ahead signal the start of serious tax season preparation for most tax preparers. Staffing, training, testing new software and technology, and becoming proficient on the latest tax law changes are at the top of most preparers' to-do lists.

The past year saw a number of unusual sales and use tax laws enacted in a number of states.

The prospect of the enactment of a value-added tax in the United States is getting closer – five years and counting, according to a Tax Governance Institute survey.

President Obama described a series of proposals aimed at encouraging companies to add more jobs, including tax cuts for small businesses.

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has introduced a bill that would make permanent a number of education-related tax relief measures dating back to 2001, when he was committee chairman, and increase others.

Large corporations have dominated the use of the research tax credit, with 549 corporations with receipts of $1 billion or more claiming over half of the $6 billion of net credits in 2005, the most recent year available, according to a new study by the Government Accountability Office.