Tax strategies

Fed Cuts Rate to 2 Percent

The government won its second victory in the past month in a lease-in, lease-out tax shelter case, after the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed with a federal district court that BB&T Corp. is barred from obtaining a tax refund of approximately $4.5 million.

The Internal Revenue Service stepped up its compliance activities last year and saw its revenues jump, according to a new report.

Entertainment and sports accountant Mike Vaden and his Vaden Group have allied with regional accounting and business advisory firm Joseph Decosimo & Co. to form a business management practice aimed at the entertainment industry and high-net-worth individuals.

Accounting firm Plante & Moran said it was seeing optimism among the businesses it surveyed in the Midwest despite general worries about the economy.

President Bush said the Treasury Department would begin distributing the first batch of tax rebates by direct deposit on Monday.

Wesley Snipes was sentenced to the maximum of three years in prison for failing to file his income taxes.

The federal government has lost a Son of Boss tax shelter case involving taxpayers who invested in foreign currency options.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the tax aspects of a cap-and-trade program to control carbon emissions.

An Ohio jury ruled that Fifth Third Bancorp is not entitled to a $5.6 million tax refund for its 1997 tax year after the bank sought to take tax deductions related to complex leasing transactions involving passenger rail cars.

The Internal Revenue Service has withdrawn proposed regulations that would have treated mortgage loans as capital assets and restricted the deductibility of mortgage defaults.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has voted to adopt a new ethics and independence rule concerning communications with audit committees, as well as an amendment to its existing tax services rule.

Financial Executives International filed an amicus curiae “friend of the court” brief on April 4 in support of a court decision in a case involving Textron to protect certain tax work papers and supporting notes from disclosure to the Internal Revenue Service.

With tax season now behind us, accountants can turn their attention to the clients who are on extension and provide advice to other clients to help them save money in the year ahead.

The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters has introduced an Enterprise Suite containing a set of software for large tax and accounting firms.

Harry Willner, a former Internal Revenue Service agent, was sentenced last week to a year in jail for a tax fraud scheme.

The Senate Finance Committee proposed a new tax bill that seeks to prevent the alternative minimum tax from spreading to more taxpayers next tax season.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has released his 2006 and 2007 tax returns.

Tax preparer Matthew Carl Berry was convicted of federal tax fraud charges for operating a scheme that earned him, family members and associates more than $1 million, according to the Justice Department.

Right on time for the conclusion of tax season, the House has passed a bill that promises to make tax preparation easier, while also repealing the IRS Private Debt Collection Program.