Finance

The Federal Housing Administration insured over $1.44 billion in mortgages for 6,327 borrowers with $77.6 million in federal tax debt who benefited from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Of these borrowers, 3,815 individuals claimed and received $27.4 million of First-Time Homebuyer Credits from the Recovery Act.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has a novel idea. Instead of allowing $500 billion of cuts in the defense budget to go forward as part of last year’s deficit reduction deal, he wants to use money saved from closing tax loopholes.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board voted Monday to approve two new standards to improve the accounting and financial reporting of public employee pensions by state and local governments.

Leaders of the Senate and House committees charged with tax policy plan to hold a rare joint hearing next Thursday on tax reform and the tax treatment of capital gains.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it reached agreements with both Switzerland and Japan to cooperate on a framework for sharing financial information on bank accounts under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

A group of Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee have introduced a bill to extend 100 percent bonus depreciation through 2012 to encourage capital investments and job growth.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chief Accountant James L. Kroeker will leave his post in July to enter the private sector.

Former Senator Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., told attendees at the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners conference that the financial reform law is essential, even though he wishes his name were not attached to it.

Former Senator Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., ushered the landmark financial reform legislation through the Senate in 2010 before retiring from his 30-year distinguished career in that chamber. He is now chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America.

A group of 11 senators have written to the Internal Revenue Service asking for information about requests for confidential donor information from organizations applying for tax-exempt status.

The American Institute of CPAs is asking Congress to make permanent changes in the estate tax as soon as possible to provide certainty to taxpayers before the current rates and rules expire at the end of the year.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing Tuesday to examine the impact of tax reform on U.S. energy policy.

The House Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee held a hearing Friday on various expiring and already-expired tax breaks.

The House voted to repeal the 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices and another provision from the health care reform law that prevents holders of health savings accounts from buying over-the-counter medicine without a prescription.

A pair of Republican senators have introduced a bill aimed at providing a long-term fix for the expected hike in student loan interest rates.

Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., said Wednesday that he plans to introduce a bill to provide tax breaks for small businesses that hire new employees or increase wages as a substitute for a bill being pushed by House Republicans to repeal the medical device tax in the health care law.

With the expiration of the current tax rates approaching at the end of the year, and a deep round of spending cuts looming, a new report sheds light on what effect that would have on the economy and the nation’s debt levels.

In an effort to "jumpstart" the U.S. economy and create more jobs, both the House and the Senate passed the Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups (or JOBS) Act, and President Obama signed the JOBS Act into law.

A House subcommittee held a hearing to consider what impact the return of a higher estate tax rate in 2013 would have on small businesses.

Our exclusive interview with the newest member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Jeanette Franzel.