Practice Management

The Internal Revenue Service has issued Notice 2004-71, providing procedures for persons required to prepare Form 1099-DIV and other information reporting with respect to dividends from foreign corporations and for individuals receiving such forms.

CHANGE BOOSTS SMALL BUSINESSES ELIGIBLE FOR SCHEDULE C-EZ: In a move aimed at reducing the paperwork burden for small businesses, the Internal Revenue Service said that it would boost the number of small businesses eligible to file a simplified expense form. The IRS will double the business expense threshold to $5,000 from $2,500 for filing the Form 1040, Schedule C-EZ.

Tax practitioners should be pleased that recent improvements have enabled the Internal Revenue Service to handle appeals more efficiently and in a more timely fashion than in the past.

Year-end tax planning generally never turns out to be the same routine each year. Either the client's circumstances change, or the tax law changes. For 2004, one of the major unexpected developments is the eleventh-hour passage of the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004.

A week after the release of a scathing report by its federal regulator, mortgage giant Fannie Mae agreed to major changes in its accounting, internal controls and management practices.

President Bush on Friday quietly signed the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 into law, while flying on Air Force One to a campaign appearance in Pennsylvania.

As part of aggressive expansion plans, Fiducial, a provider of business outsourcing services to small businesses and entrepreneurs, has gained a foothold in the Midwest with the acquisition of Indianapolis-based Frontier CPA Group LLP.

The Internal Revenue Service Appeals Division has tightened the guidelines under which it will settle cases with taxpayers that participated in certain abusive transactions, the agency advised this week.

Singer and songwriter Ronald Isley has been indicted on tax evasion charges for failing to report income that he received from performances and royalties as a member of the renowned Isley Brothers.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue said that they've established a new partnership to work together on common tax enforcement issues.