Finance

The Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration were urged during a congressional hearing Tuesday to take further steps to curb identity theft-related tax fraud.

Uncertainty lingers over whether Congress will extend all or some of the tax cuts and incentives set to expire at the end of the year.

The General Services Administration is now coming under scrutiny for offering government contractors a tax deduction in exchange for giving the agency 19 percent of the money from the tax break.

Ernst & Young's lobbying unit is no longer listed as a lobbyist for three major U.S. companies, all of whom were 2011 audit clients of the accounting giant.

A disappointing total of 115,000 jobs were added to nonfarm payrolls in April, decreasing the unemployment rate by one-tenth of a point to 8.1 percent, a three-year low.

Things don’t look so good for Amazon laws. The laws, which are the efforts of states to extend nexus to cover sales from remote vendors, have suffered several setbacks in recent weeks.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, is questioning the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department about why they are taking so long to process and pay tax whistleblower rewards.

The upcoming expiration of the Bush-era tax rates at the end of the year is already starting to produce its share of anxiety along with outsize forecasts of financial disruption.

New rules make whistleblowing more of an option for accountants

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.