Finance

The majority of the U.S. government, including the U.S. Tax Court, shut down on October 1. Late this past Wednesday, Congress voted to reopen the government through January 15 of next year. Despite the shutdown, the statutory deadline of 90 days for filing a petition in the Tax Court cannot be extended. Yet during the shutdown, the Tax Court was not accepting hand delivery and very likely was not opening its mail.

After the partisan passions and heated rhetoric, the disruptions of a government shutdown and displays of dysfunction, Congress did what it could have done weeks ago: voted to fund the government and lift the debt limit.

Congress should consolidate and simplify the types of tax-favored retirement plans now available to small business owners to minimize the cost and administrative burden imposed by the plans, the American Institute of CPAs told Congress.

U.S. Senate leaders are rushing to lock up an agreement to end the fiscal impasse, stepping in after House Republicans’ last-minute plan to avert a U.S. government default collapsed.

The Olympics are the biggest international sporting sport event, with athletes from more than 200 nations participating in what are generally considered the most important competition in the world. But are they worth it to the host city and country in terms of the budget and the eventual enormous expenditures?

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday that has appointed Daniel Murdock, a former Deloitte & Touche director, as a deputy chief accountant in the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant.

Clients are coming to accountants asking for advice about the health care reform law, especially after the shaky rollout this month of the online health care exchanges and marketplaces by various states and the federal government.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed Mark Kronforst as chief accountant of its Division of Corporation Finance.

The Internal Revenue Service is putting the brakes on tax liens and levies during the federal government shutdown.

Legislation approved by the Senate earlier this year to require online businesses to collect sales taxes from out-of-state customers could have a unfair impact on businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans and other groups, according to a new study.

The Internal Revenue Service reminded taxpayers that the October 15 deadline remains in effect for people who requested a six-month extension to file their tax return.

The government shutdown now entering its second week does more than close museums and turn national parks into uninhabited forests: It also gums up workflow for many tax preparers and often leaves their clients with questions that are growing shriller.

Mortimer Caplin, who served as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service in the Kennedy administration and the early months of the Johnson administration, sees problems ahead for taxpayers and practitioners from the government shutdown.

‘Obamacare’s’ opening day drew millions of consumers to the law’s core insurance exchanges, offering supporters and investors confidence that if the websites can stay up and running, customers will follow.

Thomson Reuters has released a new report on the Internal Revenue Service’s guidance on same-sex marriage in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down section three of the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional.

http://www.accountingtoday.com/ato_issues/27_8/Time-to-abandon-fund-accounting-in-government-67588-1.html

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a New Jersey-based audit firm and one of its founding partners Monday for their roles in the botched audits of a China-based company that failed to disclose related party transactions by its CEO and others.

With a political stalemate looming in Washington, the Treasury Department and the IRS released their contingency plan for what would happen at the service in the event of a government shutdown -- and one thing that wouldn't happen is any postponement of tax filing deadlines.

Much attention has been focused on the postponement of the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate—the requirement that businesses with 50 or more employees provide them with health insurance or face significant fines, which the Obama Administration delayed for one year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged JPMorgan Chase & Co. Thursday with misstating financial results and lacking effective internal controls to detect and prevent its traders from fraudulently overvaluing investments to conceal hundreds of millions of dollars in trading losses.