Finance

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.

The unemployment rate fell a tenth of a percentage point to 7.5 percent, the lowest rate in five years, as employers added 165,000 jobs in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Index above 15,000 points.

The research and advocacy organization Global Financial Integrity is urging Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to allow the Senate to vote on agreements negotiated by the Treasury Department with Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hungary and other countries to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, in an effort to ferret out tax evaders.

The American Institute of CPAs has sent tax reform recommendations to five of the 11 working groups on the House Ways and Means Committee tasked with studying various aspects of tax reform.

The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on tax reform and residential real estate, considering the effect of changing popular tax breaks like the mortgage interest deduction.

A pair of influential senators have re-introduced legislation to make the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s disciplinary proceedings against auditing and accounting firms public.