Finance

Transfer pricing, information sharing and the possibility of reform top international tax issues

Experts see brighter hopes for corporate tax reform, but not this year

President Obama said in his weekly address Saturday that Congress will be voting in the weeks ahead on the Buffett Rule, which would raise taxes on the wealthy.

The U.S. is set to have the highest combined federal and state statutory corporate tax rate in the industrialized world on Sunday, April 1, once Japan drops its top rate to 38.1 percent.

There’s good news and bad news to be found in the predictions of the tax business executives polled in the Tax Policy Forecast Survey.

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office called IRS Form 8938 and the FBAR "duplicative," often asking for the same or similar information.

The House has passed a Republican-sponsored budget alternative to President Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget, mostly based on the plan put forward by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., for creating only two tax brackets of just 10 and 25 percent.

A trio of House Democrats have introduced a bill that would provide tax relief to homeowners who were wrongly foreclosed upon and receive money from the recent nationwide mortgage foreclosure settlement.

A House subcommittee held hearings Wednesday in which they questioned the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s recent proposal for mandatory audit firm rotation, along with the PCAOB’s push to make disciplinary proceedings against auditors public.

The House Ways and Means Committee has passed a Republican-sponsored bill aimed at reducing taxes for small businesses that would also benefit larger companies.

Congress approved legislation Tuesday intended to spur investment in small businesses and help them access the capital markets, despite criticisms that it would weaken audit safeguards and investor protections.

Senate Republicans are allowing a Democratic bill to go forward that would end tax subsidies for major oil producers.

The U.S. Supreme Court held the first day of a three-day hearing on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, starting with a consideration of whether an 1867 law blocks consideration of taxes that have not yet been imposed.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman denied that the agency is targeting Tea Party groups and giving them extra scrutiny before granting them tax-exempt status.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman warned Thursday of a delayed tax season next year unless Congress resolves questions over the alternative minimum tax patch and other tax extender items, and talked about the tax refund delays this tax season.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has introduced a bill aimed at extending tax relief to Americans in danger of losing their homes.

The International Federation of Accountants has published a paper calling for enhanced financial management transparency and accountability in the public sector, especially in the midst of the sovereign debt crisis.

A bill advertised as creating jobs at small businesses and increasing their access to capital from the public markets would also knock down many of the auditing controls protecting investors.

House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., has introduced a Republican-backed alternative to the Obama administration’s fiscal 2013 budget, including a proposal to consolidating the current six individual income tax brackets into just two brackets of 10 and 25 percent.

James R. Doty has served for over a year as chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and in that time, the board has made progress in its efforts to inspect auditing firms in other countries, although China remains a sticking point.