WebCPA Staff

The House Committee on Financial Services voted to approve Internet gambling legislation, a critical step in making online gambling legal in the U.S.

SEC settlements with top companies over financial misstatements have declined since 2007, and nearly three quarters of SEC settlements with companies over misstatements are for no money, according to a group of economic consultants.

The District of Columbia has begun a tax amnesty program that waives all penalties and fees on back taxes paid by Sept. 30.

The economic downturn and an increasing number of taxpayers with complex tax issues contributed to a decline in the amount of revenue collected by the Internal Revenue Service in fiscal year 2009, according to a new government report.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has launched a mobile version of its Web site that will allow users to more easily access GAO reports on their BlackBerries, iPhones, Droids, and other small-screen mobile devices.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich., has introduced a bill that would close tax loopholes blamed for encouraging multinational companies to ship jobs overseas.

Skoda Minotti has named Steven H. Gross as partner, with primary responsibility for managing and overseeing all small business clients.

While their concerns about credit availability have stabilized, fewer U.S. small-business owners expect revenues, cash flow, capital spending and hiring to increase over the next 12 months, according to a new survey.

Small businesses are facing the most difficult business climate in the past three years, according to a new report from the National Small Business Association.

Federal securities class-action lawsuit activity continued to decrease in the first six months of 2010 to the lowest semiannual level since the first half of 2007, according to a new report.

Arnold Schilder has been re-appointed to chair the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board from 2012 to 2014.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said he would voluntarily pay $500,000 in taxes to the state of Massachusetts for his new $7 million yacht after the state’s Department of Revenue began looking into claims that he docked the new yacht in Rhode Island to avoid Massachusetts taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service does not always follow statutory requirements that it notify taxpayers on a timely basis when it files tax liens against them, and it does not always follow its own regulations for notifying taxpayers’ representatives of the filing of lien notices, according to a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has unveiled some new changes to the Small Business Jobs Act, in an effort to win more support for the bill.

The American Institute of CPAs has written a letter to members of the House and Senate asking them to repeal the section of the new health care law that requires businesses to report to the Internal Revenue Service any purchase from a vendor of goods or services worth $600 or more during the calendar year.

Thirty-four percent of employed Americans plan to look for a new job when the economy gets better, according to a new survey by Deloitte.

One out of five Americans has experienced a decline of 25 percent or greater of their household income, according to a new study for the Rockefeller Foundation.

A new government report finds that the Internal Revenue Service is mostly ready to deal with a flu pandemic like the H1N1 virus, but not entirely.

XBRL U.S. has released a second version of its XBRL Consistency Suite with improved functionality and additional checks that now cover detailed footnote tagging, as well as a way to compare the 2009 Taxonomy Release to the 2011 pre-release of the U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy, recently published by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

General Electric has agreed to pay $23.4 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by participating in a $3.6 million kickback scheme with Iraqi government agencies to win contracts to supply medical equipment and water purification equipment.