Finance

A task force that has been investigating the budget crisis affecting many states across the country is calling for major changes in the ways that states handle their budgeting and financial reporting.

Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., plans to introduce legislation that would provide a replacement for the Earned Income Tax Credit in the form of a “wage enhancement.”

The head of the union representing Internal Revenue Service employees is warning about persistent underfunding of the Internal Revenue Service in the omnibus spending bill unveiled yesterday by congressional negotiators.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed until July 1, 2014, the date on which the first set of municipal advisors will be required to register under final rules issued by the commission.

Senators Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., have introduced bipartisan legislation to increase transparency around settlements reached by federal enforcement agencies, including disclosures of any tax deductions and tax credits.

The Senate has confirmed Janet Yellen as chairman of the Federal Reserve by a vote of 56 to 26, succeeding Ben Bernanke, whose term ends on Jan. 31.

Democrats in Congress plan to renew their efforts next week to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program that expired on December 28.

The airline industry and one of its prominent allies are gearing up to fight a possible push in the U.S. Congress to tax baggage fees and other air-travel charges as a way to generate additional federal revenue.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board approved a 2014 budget of $258.4 million, and a 2013-2017 strategic plan that includes a greater focus on accounting firms' burgeoning consulting practices.

Deborah Barrett, a 57-year-old accounting manager in Newport, R.I., is one of an estimated 1.3 million unemployed workers who will lose their unemployment benefits on December 28 because Congress failed to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program.

A group of female House Democrats is urging Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, to allow a vote on extending federal unemployment insurance to help 1.3 million long-term unemployed workers facing the expiration of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program on December 28.

The Senate has voted to confirm John Koskinen as the next Internal Revenue Service commissioner, succeeding acting commissioner Daniel Werfel, who was brought in to help reform the beleaguered tax agency.

President Obama has nominated Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., as the next ambassador to China, potentially setting back efforts at comprehensive tax reform.

The U.S. has signed six more intergovernmental agreements with a half dozen jurisdictions, including several traditional offshore tax havens, to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA.

Although federal law prohibits agencies from contracting with businesses that have unpaid federal tax liabilities, more than 1,100 vendors doing business with the IRS owe a combined $589 million in federal tax debt.

As 2013 recedes in the rearview mirror, it is understandable that tax professionals look to the road ahead regarding taxes and Washington.

John Koskinen, a 74-year-old multimillionaire with a resume full of accomplishments, is about to get the thankless career-capping job of running the IRS after the Senate Finance Committee approved his nomination Friday.

The House passed the first bipartisan U.S. budget in four years yesterday, clearing the way for final Senate passage next week to ease $63 billion in spending cuts and avert another government shutdown.

President Barack Obama’s nominee to run the Internal Revenue Service said it’s not a high priority to create tax returns that already include information that taxpayers would check, complete and send to the agency.

John Koskinen, President Barack Obama’s nominee to run the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, said at a Senate panel’s confirmation hearing that he would work to restore the public’s trust in the tax agency.