Finance

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday they are issuing initial guidance regarding qualification requirements for tax-exemption as a social welfare organization under Section 501(c)(4) of the Tax Code after a scandal erupted earlier this year over claims that the IRS was targeting Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status.

Not only are the requirements of the Affordable Care Act difficult and complicated for businesses to understand, but in many cases those aspects that businesses and their advisors think they understand are already slated to change in the future, according to one expert.

House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee chairman Charles Boustany, R-La., has introduced legislation to reform the Internal Revenue Service’s review of applications for tax-exempt status to avoid unfair targeting of some groups.

Preservation of an unlimited charitable deduction garnered wide support from Senate leaders after more than 200 officials from various nonprofits paid a visit to Capitol Hill last week to lobby lawmakers.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is asking the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee to avoid enacting any proposed tax reforms that would limit accounting flexibility for small businesses.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development announced some new steps that the international community is taking toward automatic exchange of tax information between governments worldwide and published ratings of how well countries are complying with demands for greater transparency.

The on-again, off-again nature of the federal tax provisions traditionally known as tax extenders is leading to uncertainty and unnecessary complexity, according to tax policy experts at the American Institute of CPAs.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., released a third set of proposals Thursday to overhaul America’s tax code, this one focusing on reforms to tax accounting and cost recovery rules.

A pair of congressmen who are also physicians, Ami Bera, M.D., D-Calif., and Charles Boustany, M.D., R-La., introduced a bipartisan bill late last month to make health care more affordable for working families, small businesses and seniors.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., unveiled a series of proposals Wednesday to combat tax fraud and make the tax-filing process simpler and more efficient.

At a hearing Monday before the IRS, a number of employer groups urged the agency to alleviate the burdens and costs to employers of health care coverage reporting under the Affordable Care Act by allowing for greater flexibility and simplification in the reporting requirements.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has released the first in a series of discussion drafts for overhauling the Tax Code, with the first set of proposals focusing on international tax reform.

Behind the glazed white terra cotta facade of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in New Orleans is a 16-year legal battle with the Internal Revenue Service.

U.S. and French officials signed an intergovernmental agreement Thursday to advance the implementation of the Foreign Accounting Tax Compliance Act.

Millionaires who avoid payroll taxes by claiming income as business profits are among those in Democrats’ sights as congressional budget negotiators seek a deal by next month.

Senators Robert Menendez, D-N.J. and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., have introduced bipartisan legislation to help entrepreneurs start and grow a small business and comply with complex tax rules.

A new report from the Government Accountability Office examines corporate tax deferral, highlighting the distortionary impact on the economy.

A bipartisan bill has been introduced in the Senate with the goal of simplifying income tax collections for taxpayers who work in multiple states.

A pair of senators have introduced bipartisan legislation that would rescind tax write-offs for illegal corporate behavior in an effort to hold corporate wrongdoers accountable.

Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, has written a letter to Internal Revenue Service acting commissioner Danny Werfel urging the IRS to disclose all the information it has available to date on the eligibility determinations it has made for individuals who have applied for premium tax credits in the health insurance exchanges that went online last month under the Affordable Care Act.