Finance

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.

The American Institute of CPAs has written to the leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee encouraging them to support the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013, also known as the DATA Act (S. 994), which includes a provision calling for establishment of government-wide financial data standards for federal funds.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., a senior member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, has introduced legislation to expand the New Markets Tax Credit program to provide up to $100 million a year to help distressed communities whose military installations have been either closed or realigned.

Approximately 8,400 federal employees and contractors who were judged eligible for a security clearance from April 2006 to December 2011 owed approximately $85 million in unpaid federal taxes as of June 2012, according to a new government report.

Allen M. Abrams, co-founder of the Chicago-based accounting firm Ostrow Reisin Berk & Abrams, Ltd., has died after a brief illness at the age of 81, on Oct. 27, 2013, his firm announced.

A pair of lawmakers have introduced legislation to simplify the Tax Code to enable families to more easily afford the cost of higher education.

A measure that would put the brakes on the Department of Labor's proposal to establish a fiduciary standard for advisors to retirement plans was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in a largely party-line vote on Tuesday.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have released a document containing proposed guidance for foreign financial institutions as the next step in implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in an effort to combat offshore tax evasion.

The amount of money the federal government receives from corporate income taxes has been declining since 2008, mainly because of the recession, according to a new government report.

Congress, not the Internal Revenue Service, is to blame for the recently announced postponement of the beginning of next year’s tax season, according to the National Association of CPA Practitioners -- and it called on the legislative branch to take quick action to prevent further delays.

Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., the influential chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, has written a letter to the acting head of the Internal Revenue Service complaining that the IRS’s decision to delay tax season because of the government shutdown will be a financial burden to people who count on early tax refunds.

Mary Kopczynski, CEO of 8of9 Consulting, discusses how the intergovernmental agreements that the U.S. has been negotiating with other countries to facilitate FATCA compliance are affecting U.S. expatriates and citizens abroad, in an interview with AccountingToday.com editor-in-chief Michael Cohn.

After reopening operations on Oct. 17, the IRS said in an email to tax professionals Friday that its employees are reporting back to work, and the agency is assessing the impact of the 16-day shutdown on its national operations.

Mary Kopczynski, CEO of 8of9 Consulting, discusses the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, and its implications, delays and controversies, in the first of a two-part interview with AccountingToday.com editor-in-chief Michael Cohn.