Tax strategies

Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., released the 2007 tax return for himself and his wife Michelle.

The Internal Revenue Service said it would be watching to make sure charities and religious organizations don't violate their tax-exempt status by engaging in political activities this campaign season.

Andrew Rubin and Andrew Ross at Gettry Marcus Stern & Lehrer, CPA, P.C., along with eight other accountants, were featured on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on tax day, presenting the Top 10 list.

The Internal Revenue Service has put out a call for a priority list of items it should address with its upcoming guidance.

Prosecutors are asking the judge overseeing the Wesley Snipes tax evasion case to give the actor three years in prison and a fine of $5 million, even though a jury cleared him of felony charges.

A new study by the Computer & Communications Industry Association recommended that the Internal Revenue Service avoid investing in its own online tax preparation system, saying the proposed "I-File" system would be costly to implement and create little or no benefit for consumers.

The Supreme Court has issued unanimous rulings in two tax cases, MeadWestvaco Corp. v. Illinois Department of Revenue, and U.S. v. Clintwood Elkhorn Mining Co.

The Internal Revenue Service has released draft instructions for the redesigned Form 990, the return that tax-exempt organizations such as nonprofit charities, hospitals and universities must file annually.

The Senate Finance Committee heard testimony about U.S. tax policy at a hearing on tax fundamentals in advance of reform efforts that Congress plans to undertake.

The IRS Oversight Board encouraged the Internal Revenue Service to strive for not just "good," but "great" performance, in its 2007 annual report.

Following the release of tax returns by the Clintons and the Obamas, the president and vice president have released copies of their returns.

An Oregon federal court has permanently barred John Fitzgerald of Portland and his three daughters - Marilyn Dial, Martha Farr Sharp and Karen Gray - from marketing a tax fraud scheme involving sham nonprofit corporations that customers used to evade federal taxes, the Justice Department said.

The Internal Revenue Service said it would soon issue guidance to help businesses determine how to use the special 50 percent bonus depreciation allowance included with the recent economic stimulus legislation.

An increasing number of taxpayers filed or intended to file their tax returns online this tax season, according to recent data supplied by both the Internal Revenue Service and global researcher The Conference Board.As of early March, IRS statistics showed that the 2008 e-filing level was up 5 percent over the same period last year. And in a survey undertaken just prior to tax season, The Conference Board found that 40 percent of taxpayers planned to file online, up from 34 percent three years ago. More than two thirds of consumers said that they have filed online for three years or more, up from less than 55 percent in 2005.

IRS REHIRES PRIVATE COLLECTORSWashington, D.C. — The Internal Revenue Service has decided to renew the contracts of two companies involved in its controversial private debt collection program.

The Senate has overwhelmingly passed a housing relief bill that includes a $7,000 tax credit for purchasers of foreclosed homes in addition to $4 billion in grants for local communities to buy and repair foreclosed properties.

Steinway Replaces Deloitte with UHY

Racing to find political common ground on estate tax policy before the Bush administration tax cuts expire, congressional leaders are urging Republicans and Democrats to “think outside the box” when considering reforms.Among the alternatives placed on the table for discussion during recent Senate Finance Committee hearings: proposals to tax the beneficiaries of inheritances, rather than estates, as well as options under which estate taxes would be levied based on the heir’s “access to sophisticated tax advice.”

Two bills proposed in the Senate last year that take aim at tax havens and the U.S. taxpayers that operate in them have been given greater impetus by the recent European and U.S. probes into accounts in Liechtenstein that were alleged to hide assets from national taxing authorities.S. 396, introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., would prevent American companies from deferring the imposition of a second layer of tax on their foreign-source income if they operate in selected low-tax nations. It would amend the Internal Revenue Code to treat certain controlled foreign corporations created or organized under the laws of a tax-haven country as domestic corporations for tax purposes. It sets forth a list of “tax-haven” countries, and grants the Treasury authority to remove or add a country from the list.

Despite a recently issued safe harbor now available for like-kind exchanges of vacation properties, the Internal Revenue Service continues to keep taxpayers guessing on the precise boundaries of the law itself.Last September, the Government Accountability Office came out with a critical report on like-kind exchanges in which it complained that the IRS needed to give taxpayers more guidance on like-kind exchanges of second homes and vacation retreats. The GAO claimed that the IRS had agreed with its findings and had promised to release more specific guidance. The latest IRS response seems to fall short of that commitment.