Finance

The majority of small businesses want a long-term solution to the debt ceiling so the U.S. can pay its bills and the issue does not repeatedly come up for votes in Congress, according to a new survey.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has released new standards aimed at improving the accounting and reporting of combinations and disposals of government operations for U.S. state and local governments.

Unfortunately, recent events make fundamental tax reform, already a heavy lift, much less likely.

The American Institute of CPAs has written to the leaders of Congress’s tax-writing committees asking them to expand the replacement period for property loss for taxpayers affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have issued a long-awaited set of final regulations implementing the information reporting and withholding tax provisions of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act aimed at combating offshore tax evasion, with far-reaching implications for U.S.-born taxpayers abroad, in addition to foreign financial institutions as well as U.S. banks.

The Internal Revenue Service is providing information on some of the retirement plan provisions of the fiscal cliff deal that was signed into law earlier this month.

The Internal Revenue Service stated on Tuesday that they will begin processing individual tax returns on Jan. 30, 2013, marking the official beginning of “tax season” for tax professionals.

CCH has issued a new report looking back at the year in tax, summarizing the major developments up to and including the fiscal cliff legislation that was passed by Congress on New Year’s Day.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has approved a new standard intended to improve accounting and financial reporting for state and local governments’ combinations and disposals of government operations.

The U.S. Small Business Administration highlighted some of the main tax incentives for small businesses that were extended as part of last week’s fiscal cliff legislation.

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 155,000 jobs in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, but that was not enough to lower the unemployment rate of 7.8 percent as the pace of hiring appeared to slacken after strong gains in November.

President Barack Obama signed the legislation that enacts a last-minute budget deal and averts income tax increases for most U.S. workers, marking an end to a yearlong impasse.

Even though President Obama indicated only last Friday that the fiscal cliff deal likely to be produced by the January 1 deadline would be a basic package, lawmakers managed to come out with a surprisingly comprehensive set of tax provisions, some with long-lasting effects.

The House passed a deal to avert an income tax rate increase on middle-class families on Tuesday night, following a New Year’s Eve vote by the Senate, sending the bill to President Obama for his signature.

The U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan budget deal two hours after income tax cuts expired, reaching an after-deadline deal to undo the potential economic harm of $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts.

The U.S. House of Representatives doesn’t plan any votes on the federal budget tonight, meaning that Congress for now will fail to avert $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts set to start at midnight.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rejected the latest Republican offer to resolve the U.S. fiscal crisis as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reached out to Vice President Joe Biden in an effort to break the impasse.

President Barack Obama summoned congressional leaders to a White House meeting three days before a year-end deadline to avoid $600 billion in spending cuts and tax increases as lawmakers gave little sign they intend to act together on a budget plan.

Congress is scheduled to return Thursday, with one of its top priorities a deal to avert the December 31 “fiscal cliff” deadline of looming tax increases and automatic spending cuts, but it will need to work quickly or reach some type of interim agreement.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader who has stayed largely outside the U.S. budget fight this year, will be thrust into prominence just five days before the deadline for tax increases and spending cuts.