Finance

Despite other hearings being held in Washington this week of a more political nature, it’s nice to know that the Ways and Means Committee is continuing to search for ways to make life easier for small businesses, at least as far as complying with the Tax Code. A hearing was held by the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures on Wednesday, May 15, on the Ways and Means Small Business Tax Reform Discussion Draft.

(Bloomberg) President Barack Obama appointed Daniel Werfel, controller of the White House budget office, as acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.

President Obama announced during a press conference late Wednesday afternoon that he had asked for and received the resignation of Acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller, over the recently revealed news that the agency had been targeting for extra scrutiny the applications of Tea Party and similar groups for tax-exempt status.

The U.S. budget deficit will shrink by the end of fiscal 2013 to $642 billion, the smallest shortfall in five years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

According to a newly released report, a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration audit found that “ineffective management” had led the Internal Revenue Service to use “inappropriate criteria” to identify applications for tax-exempt status for review, leading to Tea Party and similar organizations receiving undue scrutiny and delays in their applications.

Attorney General Eric Holder ordered a criminal investigation into the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of small-government advocacy groups for extra scrutiny.

The Marketplace Fairness Act, which the Senate passed last week, would require e-commerce vendors to collect sales taxes not only on physical items, but also on digital goods such as ebooks and music downloads.

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the chairmen of some key legislative committees have proposed a major overhaul of state laws governing the nonprofit sector in the first major reforms in 40 years, including improved oversight of audits by the charity's board and the hiring of independent auditors.

The acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service said the agency’s errors in targeting small-government groups stemmed from the lack of a “sufficient process” and weren’t the result of partisanship.

President Barack Obama called it “outrageous” for the IRS to target groups promoting limited government for special attention, as a Democratic panel chairman became the latest to announce a congressional probe.

A coalition of charitable organizations is calling on Congress to protect the charitable deduction as leaders of Congress’s tax-writing committees step up their efforts to forge comprehensive tax reform.

At least two congressional committees plan to hold hearings on the Internal Revenue Service’s admission that it targeted for special attention groups promoting limited government.

Members of Congress have introduced several bills this week to keep student loan interest rates from doubling in July.

An Internal Revenue Service official apologized for what she called the agency’s improper flagging of some anti-tax Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny.

Senate Appropriations Committee chair Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., urged Internal Revenue Service Acting Commissioner Steven T. Miller to do more to keep unscrupulous payroll service providers from cheating small businesses out of unremitted withholding taxes during an IRS budget hearing.

The leaders of Congress’s two main tax committee teamed up Thursday to launch a new Web site and Twitter feed, with the goal of getting input from the American public on tax reform.

CCH has released a new analysis of the Internet sales tax legislation approved by the Senate this week.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ken., has introduced legislation to repeal provisions of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, that he contends undermine the privacy of U.S. citizens.

The Senate has approved legislation requiring online retailers to collect sales taxes from Internet sales, even if they don’t have a physical presence in the state where the customer resides.

Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation has released a report summarizing various provisions of the Tax Code and suggestions that were sent to House Ways and Means Committee working groups tasked with various aspects of tax reform.