Tax strategies

A House subcommittee plans to conduct a hearing into the tax treatment of derivatives next week.

When you think about filing your tax return, do you have more questions than answers? The entire process can be confusing and frustrating, but a little information can make the experience much more bearable. Here are some common tax-season questions, along with practical answers, from the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJSCPA):

At this time of year, people are organizing their records in preparation for filing their tax returns. This is often a challenging task, and that may be particularly true for those who are serving in the armed forces.

The Internal Revenue Service has made available records from one of its most famous legal cases of all time, the tax evasion prosecution of Chicago gangster Al Capone in 1931.

The Internal Revenue Service said it would add distressed-asset trust transactions to its list of tax avoidance transactions, signaling that such transactions need to be disclosed and may be subject to penalties.

The House has again passed an energy tax bill that would increase taxes on major oil and gas producers by $18 billion while providing incentives for renewable energy.

The Internal Revenue Service said it is beginning enforcement actions against more than 100 U.S. taxpayers who have been sheltering their funds from taxes by depositing them in secret bank accounts in the tax haven of Liechtenstein.

The Internal Revenue Service has introduced an electronic filing system that allows small tax-exempt organizations to file Form 990-N "e-Postcards" to report their annual income.

House Democrats plan to reintroduce a bill this week that would shift tax breaks from oil and gas to renewable energy sources.

Germany has committed to sharing tax evasion information as a widening tax scandal involving its citizens and the tax haven of Liechtenstein spreads to other parts of Europe.

While Democrats and Republicans slug it out on the campaign trail, there's one issue of deep concern to accountants that all of the 2008 presidential candidates agree on: the need for reform of the federal tax system.That is where the consensus ends, however. None of the contenders agree on what changes are needed in the Tax Code, or even what constitutes reform. Adding to the confusion, at least some of the candidates have tailored their tax reform positions to their audience -- favoring one course of action while on the campaign trail, but voting the opposite way in Congress.

In a deal that lawmakers and the White House hope will help jumpstart a wheezing economy, leaders on both sides of the aisle agreed on a $150 billion economic stimulus plan that would hand most taxpayers rebate checks of between $600 and $1,200.

A case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court could have huge implications for state tax law when it's decided in late spring.

IRS FILES OVERWHELM STORAGE SPACE

Former pro baseball player Lenny Dykstra plans to fight a lawsuit from his former accounting firm, which claims he owes the firm $111,097 in fees.

Regional accounting firm Cherry, Bekaert & Holland has acquired Massey + Pittman, giving the firm a larger presence in the Atlanta area and expanding its real estate and construction industry group.

The Internal Revenue Service has given some farmers, fishermen and other agricultural industry taxpayers until March 10 to electronically file the newly revised Form 4136, "Credit for Federal Tax Paid on Fuels."

The Marketplace provides you, the tax and accounting professional, a tool to help find the products and services you need to easily and efficiently run your practice or to recommend to your clients. Browse by category below or search by company name.

In November, we devoted a column to the issues surrounding the new return preparer penalty standards under Internal Revenue Code Sec. 6694 enacted as part of the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007. Those changes focused on the expansion of coverage of Code Section 6694 to tax returns beyond income tax returns; an increase in the penalties imposed, including penalties based on 50 percent of fees derived from return preparation; and an increase in the disclosure standard required to avoid penalties to more likely than not (greater than 50 percent) from a realistic possibility of prevailing on the merits (greater than one third).

The Justice Department has sued two tax preparers it accuses of selling bogus gold-mining tax deductions to pro football players.