Finance

The House voted Friday to extend the current 3.4 percent interest rate on subsidized student loans for one more year.

A group of 63 Republican members in the House have written a letter to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman urging him to stop the agency from requesting extensive information from Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations applying for tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)4 of the Tax Code.

It’s been awhile since serious consideration has been given to estate tax reform, but with the Jan. 1, 2013 deadline looming, more people are offering their views on the subject.

The Internal Revenue Service issued a trio of notices Thursday related to the health care reform law, including how one might determine whether a health insurance plan provides “minimum value.”

On a unanimous voice vote, the House has approved the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, with the goal of establishing strong reporting standards for federal spending information.

The House held a hearing Wednesday on the use of tax-advantaged health insurance accounts such as flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts for purchasing over-the-counter medications in the wake of the health care reform law.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing Monday on tax reform and its impact on state and local tax and fiscal policy.

With the interest rates for federally subsidized student loans scheduled to double from 3.4 to 6.8 percent in July, the topic has suddenly become a hot political issue.

It’s been said that you can’t tell the players without a scorecard. Where I need a scorecard is to figure out which tax provisions expired at the end of 2011, and those slated to give up the ghost at the end of 2012. Luckily, the Joint Economic Committee has a Web site that lists all of the expiring provisions of recent memory, together with the dates they expired or will expire.

The House has approved Republican-backed legislation to provide a tax cut of up to 20 percent for one year to companies with fewer than 500 employees.

Internal Revenue Service and Treasury officials faced questions from Congress on Thursday over how well the IRS is responding to taxpayer identity theft concerns and efforts to close the growing tax gap.

The large differences in excise tax rates for various smoking products are prompting consumers with a tobacco habit to shift their smoking habits to pipes and larger cigars, according to a new government study.

With Democrats and Republicans in Congress battling over competing tax legislation this week, one new bill should be able to attract bipartisan support.

The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing Tuesday on tax reform and tax-favored retirement accounts as it sought to find ways to use tax policy to encourage more Americans to save for retirement.

Senate Republicans blocked a bill promoted by the Obama administration that would impose a minimum tax on millionaires.

President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans square off this week over tax hikes for millionaires and tax cuts for businesses, with both sides seen as more interested in scoring political points than in fixing the tax code or shrinking the deficit.

While every state offers tax incentives to attract, retain and expand businesses and jobs, few states actually provide good evidence that the tax breaks deliver an effective return on investment, according to a new report.

Just a few days ahead of the tax-filing deadline, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden released their 2011 tax returns on Friday.

I had the unexpected surprise yesterday of lunching with Karl Rove, known as the architect of President George W. Bush’s election campaigns.

President Obama told a crowd of students and supporters that Congress should vote to approve his plan to ensure that millionaires don’t pay lower tax rates than the middle class.