Practice Management

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, defended the Internal Revenue Service's outsourcing of tax collections to private firms by pointing out the thousands of disciplinary actions taken against IRS employees.

A new study by the Computer & Communications Industry Association recommended that the Internal Revenue Service avoid investing in its own online tax preparation system, saying the proposed "I-File" system would be costly to implement and create little or no benefit for consumers.

The Supreme Court has issued unanimous rulings in two tax cases, MeadWestvaco Corp. v. Illinois Department of Revenue, and U.S. v. Clintwood Elkhorn Mining Co.

The Internal Revenue Service has released draft instructions for the redesigned Form 990, the return that tax-exempt organizations such as nonprofit charities, hospitals and universities must file annually.

The Senate Finance Committee heard testimony about U.S. tax policy at a hearing on tax fundamentals in advance of reform efforts that Congress plans to undertake.

The IRS Oversight Board encouraged the Internal Revenue Service to strive for not just "good," but "great" performance, in its 2007 annual report.

An Oregon federal court has permanently barred John Fitzgerald of Portland and his three daughters - Marilyn Dial, Martha Farr Sharp and Karen Gray - from marketing a tax fraud scheme involving sham nonprofit corporations that customers used to evade federal taxes, the Justice Department said.

It is my belief that despite the various newsletters, publications and sections on the AICPA Website, what the AICPA is doing that directly impacts its members can be publicized better by the AICPA.

The Internal Revenue Service said it would soon issue guidance to help businesses determine how to use the special 50 percent bonus depreciation allowance included with the recent economic stimulus legislation.

An increasing number of taxpayers filed or intended to file their tax returns online this tax season, according to recent data supplied by both the Internal Revenue Service and global researcher The Conference Board.As of early March, IRS statistics showed that the 2008 e-filing level was up 5 percent over the same period last year. And in a survey undertaken just prior to tax season, The Conference Board found that 40 percent of taxpayers planned to file online, up from 34 percent three years ago. More than two thirds of consumers said that they have filed online for three years or more, up from less than 55 percent in 2005.