Finance

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.

Internal Revenue Service Acting Commissioner Steven T. Miller told a congressional panel Thursday that while tax season began with delays caused by the late passage of the fiscal cliff legislation, the rest of the season eventually went smoothly.

A loose coalition of anti-tax activists, direct marketers and financial industry trade groups has a tough task this week in overcoming bipartisan support for letting states impose sales taxes on out-of-state sellers.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has decided not to run for re-election in 2014, instead opting to spend the next year and a half focusing on his job as Montana’s senior Senator and chairing the Senate committee in charge of tax policy, as opposed to re-election.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has approved a new standard that provides accounting and financial reporting guidance to state and local governments that offer nonexchange financial guarantees and governments that receive guarantees on their obligations.

Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., introduced a bill Wednesday that would establish a tax on the trading of stocks and other financial products.

A pair of senators have introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at expanding the use of S corporation employee stock ownership plans, or S ESOPs, to encourage more Americans to save for retirement.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing Tuesday on moving forward with solutions to tax fraud and tax identity theft as they grappled with an expanding problem that has plagued recent tax seasons.

A pair of Congressmen have introduced legislation that would allow the Internal Revenue Service to provide taxpayers with a tax form already containing information received from employers and banks to streamline the tax prep process.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, introduced legislation on tax deadline day to close offshore tax loopholes for corporations and encourage greater financial transparency.

CCH has released a new tax briefing analyzing President Obama’s fiscal year 2014 budget and the tax ramifications of the President’s proposals.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama earned $608,611 in adjusted gross income in 2012, down 23 percent from 2011 as royalties from Obama’s books continued to decline, tax returns released today showed.

The American Institute of CPAs has sent congressional leaders a set of legislative proposals for reforming the civil tax penalty provisions of the Tax Code, arguing that some penalties are disproportionately severe and punish innocent conduct.

Owning your own business is about doing the one thing you love to do, and 99 other things you dislike but must do, according to Roger Harris, president and chief operating officer of Padgett Business Services.

A group representing charitable organizations said it is concerned about a proposed cap to the charitable tax deduction included in President Obama's budget plan.

President Barack Obama formally unveiled the administration’s fiscal 2014 budget on Wednesday with some familiar proposals for tax reform, along with key concessions on entitlement reform.