Practice Management

The Internal Revenue Service failed to ensure that only eligible taxpayers received education credit tax relief that was only supposed to be available to taxpayers in Midwestern disaster areas, according to a new government report.

In June we discussed the proposed Schedule UTP and instructions for reporting uncertain tax positions. The Internal Revenue Service received a number of comments on those proposals and, on Sept. 24, 2010, issued a final Schedule UTP and related materials for the 2010 year in Announcements 2010-75 and 2010-76. The final version makes a number of significant changes to the requirements in response to the input received.

Remember the 1990s flick, What About Bob?

IRS MAY PROBE FORGIVEN MORTGAGE DEBT

Washington, D.C. - The IRS plans to take a closer look at businesses that fail to file tax returns, and identify more of them.

The unfinished business awaiting Congress during the lame duck session this month includes the expiring 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, the normal extender items, the estate tax, and, many tax professionals believe, a ban on tax strategy patents.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Friday he would introduce legislation to repeal the controversial requirements for businesses to file forms that would report payments made for goods and certain services to the IRS.

Here’s some good news for those who haven’t renewed their Preparer Tax Identification Number by the end of the year. The process to renew it will be the same beginning in January as it is now, and it takes only about 15 minutes to do online.

Nearly 99 million individuals filed their federal income tax returns electronically during 2010, a 3 percent increase in the IRS e-file rate, mainly due to taxpayers who prepared and filed their own taxes from their home computers.

H&R Block released an update on its lawsuit against its refund anticipation loan provider, HSBC, saying the two have been “in discussions.”