Finance

A group of nearly 30 congressional Democrats has written to the leaders of the Labor Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission expressing concern over a recent proposed rule redefining the meaning of the term “fiduciary,” saying it would have a negative impact on people with Individual Retirement Accounts and other retirement and savings plans.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing Thursday on tax breaks for oil companies, bringing together top executives from the largest oil companies to defend their tax credits.

A group of lawmakers has introduced a bill that would temporarily lower tax barriers to encourage American companies with earnings overseas to bring those dollars back to the U.S. for investment.

Three Democratic senators have introduced a bill that would end tax subsidies for the five largest oil companies.

Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., has introduced an energy bill that would eliminate some of the tax breaks enjoyed by the major oil producers.

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 244,000 in April, but the unemployment rate nevertheless edged up two-tenths of a percentage point to 9.0 percent.

The American Institute of CPAs told a congressional subcommittee that it should urge the U.S. Small Business Administration to increase its small business size standards for small business accounting firms to $25.5 million from the current $8.5 million.

Republicans in the House and Senate introduced a bill Thursday that could drastically change the way states distribute unemployment insurance benefits.

A bipartisan group of Midwestern state senators introduced legislation Wednesday to update ethanol tax credit policies, but not repeal the tax credit.

The tax-related talk in Washington lately has shifted from overall tax reform to specific fixes like eliminating about $4 billion in tax breaks for major oil companies.

A bipartisan group of senators has renewed the effort to repeal tax credits for ethanol, introducing a bill Tuesday that would fully eliminate the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have asked for public comment on issues related to provisions of the health care reform law requiring employers to help pay for the cost of providing government-run health insurance to their employees.

A new analysis by Congress’s nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation found that 51 percent of U.S. households did not pay any federal income tax in 2009.

President Obama repeated his demand for Congress to eliminate an estimated $4 billion in tax breaks for the major oil and gas companies.

A number of years ago, a gaming and hospitality analyst whom I'd interviewed a number of times was fired after he told The Wall Street Journal that a certain casino in Atlantic City was basically a house of cards and would not survive.

The Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011, which passed Congress on April 5, 2011, eliminates two recently enacted 1099 reporting requirements that were to take effect in 2012. Still on the books, however, are a couple of new 1099 reporting requirements effective for 2011.

The Texas Society of CPAs has issued an analysis of the Obama administration’s call for eliminating special tax breaks for domestic oil and gas production and come out firmly against any repeal.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner blamed a “broken” tax system as one of the chief causes of the U.S. budget deficit.

It’s good that tax reform is high on the political agenda these days.

Two Republican congressional leaders have written to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman demanding information on how the IRS is spending $1 billion in funds the agency received under the health care reform law.