Practice Management

CANDIDATES MAKE TAX PLANSChicago — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., called for an “emergency energy rebate” of $1,000 to be offered to families this fall, along with a $50 billion stimulus package to help jump-start job creation.

While many of the non-tax provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, enacted on July 30, 2008, appear directly focused at the problems arising from the housing and mortgage crisis that has developed over the last year, the tax provisions appear at best to have only an indirect effect on the individuals most impacted by the subprime mortgages and declining home values.The tax title to the legislation includes many provisions focused on the low-income housing credit, housing and mortgage bonds, and real estate investment trusts. This column, however, will take a closer look at some of the individual tax breaks and revenue raisers most likely to impact individual taxpayers and their tax returns in 2008 and coming years.

There are dramatic differences between the way large and smaller CPA firms handle various areas of practice management, such as management and leadership; recruiting, development and retention of staff; training; diversity of services; specialization; and partner accountability.For now, let’s define “large” firms as Top 100 firms; No. 100 had annual fees of $29 million in 2007. Meanwhile, the “smaller” firms are those below the Top 100 threshold.

Congressman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, never reported rental income from a vacation property he has owned in the Dominican Republic since 1988.

The Internal Revenue Service has thousands of insecure, unauthorized Web servers connected to its network, putting taxpayer information at risk.

An Iowa man has been indicted for claiming a $240,009 refund of all the taxes he has paid, contending the Internal Revenue Service has no jurisdiction over him because the U.S. is a "fictional entity" and he is a "citizen of heaven."

U.S. and foreign tax rules increasingly influence where multinational companies are reporting their income is being earned, according to a new report that may influence tax legislation in Congress.

The Internal Revenue Service has been asked to investigate James Manning, the pastor of Atlah World Missionary Church in Harlem, and the church's tax-exempt status after Manning repeatedly attacked Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., from the pulpit.

The mayor of Raceland, Ky., informed a startled city council at an emergency meeting Wednesday night that the Internal Revenue Service has seized close to $100,000 from the city coffers because of non-payment of 2006-2007 taxes.

Plante & Moran has gone south of the border, opening an office in Monterrey, Mexico.