Practice Management

Reports have surfaced that the federal debt commission (officially known as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform) is considering the heretofore unimaginable elimination of popular tax breaks, including deductions on mortgage interest, as part of its report due on December 1.

The Internal Revenue Service faced challenges last tax season verifying taxpayers’ eligibility for some of the newer stimulus-related tax credits, allowing 125,762 individuals to receive nearly $111.4 million in erroneous Recovery Act-related tax benefits, according to a new government report.

The Internal Revenue Service said the cost-of-living adjustments affecting the dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement- related items for tax year 2011 will mostly remain unchanged, except for a few small inflation adjustments.

IMGCAP(1)]Small business is said to be the lifeblood of the nation’s economy.

The Internal Revenue Service has started accepting taxpayer records in electronic format from small businesses using Intuit’s QuickBooks and Sage’s Peachtree accounting software for audits and examinations.

The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, a federal advisory committee of 101 citizen volunteers across the country, has released its annual report, with recommendations that include calling for the IRS to protect against identity theft by allowing taxpayers to “lock” their accounts when no tax returns are required.

The Internal Revenue Service’s comparative study of its private debt collection program was not designed soundly enough to support its decision to discontinue contracting out debt collection to private companies, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman indicated that the IRS is continuing to refine its new requirements for tax preparer registration, testing and continuing education, and announced that the IRS would waive the requirement for continuing education in the first year of implementing the new program, as well as set up a new office at the IRS dedicated to tax return preparers.

Businesses that have developed complex networks of related trusts and partnerships to evade taxes are making it difficult for the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to close the tax gap, according to a new government report.

The Internal Revenue Service released information Tuesday on the procedures that foreigners and U.S. citizens without a Social Security number because of religious objections can use to register as tax preparers.