Practice Management

The IRS has modified its Voluntary Classification Settlement Program, which lets employers change the tax treatment of their employees.

Time is running out for U.S. lawmakers and President Barack Obama to agree on a budget deal by year end to avoid triggering more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts, Sen. Joseph Lieberman said on Sunday.

In the face of major uncertainty regarding the upcoming tax season, Jeff Gramlich, president of tax software developer CCH Small Firm Services, is urging tax preparers to get in touch and stay in touch with their clients.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York earlier this week charged three current and former client advisors at Swiss bank Zuercher Kantonalbank with conspiring with at least 180 U.S. taxpayers and others to hide more than $420 million in offshore accounts from the Internal Revenue Service.

Jay R. Horowitz CPA PC and Miller & Co. LLP, of Manhattan, N.Y., have agreed to merge. The deal will take effect on Jan. 1, 2013.

(Bloomberg) -- House Republican leaders canceled a planned vote on Thursday night on Speaker John Boehner's plan to allow higher tax rates for annual income above $1 million, throwing already-stalled budget talks deeper into turmoil.

Professional tax return preparers must renew their PTINs to prepare returns in 2013, the IRS said in a reminder to preparers. Current PTINs expire December 31.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released two reports related to the Internal Revenue Service’s Customer Account Data Engine 2 Program, suggesting that while the system has begun processing tax returns, there are still significant areas where improvement is necessary.

House Republicans plan a vote late Thursday on a measure that would have been hard to imagine before the November 6 election -- a tax increase for top earners, which they previously labeled as job-killing class warfare.

A dose of this week’s office moves, tools, industry reports and charity updates.