Practice Management

The new administration released its budget and included its revenue proposals, detailed by the Treasury Department in the "Greenbook." There is quite a bit of material, so I want to focus on the proposals that didn't happen that are of concern to accountants and clients.

A California businessman was sentenced to a five-year jail term for tax evasion and ordered to pay a $75,000 fine, as well as given a tongue lashing by the judge, after he failed to report the profits from his marble tile company on his personal income tax return, claiming the business was owned by a “pure trust.”

Minority-owned businesses were less successful in obtaining awards from the Treasury Department’s New Markets Tax Credits program than non-minority entities in recent years, according to a new government report.

Clifton Gunderson has moved its headquarters from Peoria, Ill., to Milwaukee, making it the largest accounting firm to be based in Wisconsin, as new CEO Krista McMasters takes the reins.

Accounting firm LarsonAllen has expanded its presence in Arizona by combining with Scottsdale-based Cronstrom, Osuch & Co.

Independent research confirms that people make a series of five buying decisions whenever they are being sold to.

THOMSON REUTERS STARTS TAXWATCH UNIVERSITY

Under the heading, "Nothing in the tax law turns out to be easy," add the temporary motor vehicle sales tax deduction enacted in the 2009 Recovery Act. The concept sounds simple enough: Give consumers a tax incentive to purchase new vehicles in an effort to help the ailing auto industry. Its execution, however, has left many tax advisors scratching their heads over the number of issues that have been raised in connection with this new deduction.

Nexus for state corporate income and sales and use taxes remains widely variable between states.

The Internal Revenue Service said that 112 U.S. companies, partnerships, individuals and other entities reported receiving almost 2,300 requests to participate in boycotts unsanctioned in the U.S. in 2005 and 2006.