Practice Management

2008 was to be the year that companies and their tax advisors worked to get their nonqualified deferred-compensation plans in order to comply with the new requirements under Code Section 409A and the regulations thereunder. Recent positions from the Internal Revenue Service are, however, expanding the focus of compensation concerns for 2008 beyond deferred compensation to include deductions for current performance-based compensation.BACKGROUND

The Internal Revenue Service is making progress on devising a strategy to narrow the tax gap, but significant challenges remain, according to a new report by the Treasury Department's inspector general.

Lynn A. Chiavaro coached one of the first college girls' basketball teams three decades ago and was inducted into the Hall of Fame for her accomplishments in the sport.

The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures held a hearing to discuss tax incentives for post-secondary education.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed enforcement actions against global advertising network McCann-Erickson Worldwide, its parent company Interpublic Group of Companies, and two of its former executives, charging them with accounting fraud.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service needs to do a better job of processing requests from taxpayers for relief from Internal Revenue Service enforcement actions, said a new report from the Treasury Department's watchdog group.

The Internal Revenue Service said that economic stimulus payments directly deposited to individual retirement accounts and other tax-favored accounts may be withdrawn tax-free and penalty-free.

IRS Narrows Tax Gap

Revenue at accounting firm J.H. Cohn rose 26 percent to $221,371,000 for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2008.

The government won its second victory in the past month in a lease-in, lease-out tax shelter case, after the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed with a federal district court that BB&T Corp. is barred from obtaining a tax refund of approximately $4.5 million.