Finance

President Obama visited Cleveland to talk with small business leaders about their concerns.

The Senate approved a bill Thursday night that both modernizes the Federal Aviation Administration’s technology and includes a provision that repeals the health care reform bill’s expanded 1099 information reporting requirements.

The Social Security Administration warned in a letter to employees that it may have to furlough workers if proposed cuts to its budget are enacted into law.

We’ve been operating without a budget for the past year, and despite the budget proposal this week, it appears likely that we will continue to operate the government under a series of continuing resolutions.

The House Ways and Means Committee approved two separate pieces of legislation on Thursday to repeal the onerous 1099 reporting provisions enacted in 2010, with Republicans and Democrats sharply divided over how the bill would be paid.

The House Ways and Means Committee began markup work Thursday on two bills aimed at repealing the expanded 1099 information reporting requirements in the health care reform law and the Small Business Jobs Act.

A watchdog group is calling on the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether members of Congress who sleep in their offices are violating House ethics rules and tax laws by failing to report lodging as a taxable fringe benefit.

The unveiling of the Obama administration’s budget this week appeared to be only the opening act for what promises to be a long-running series of episodes involving spending, taxes, and cuts to favored and not-so-favored programs.

Two Republican congressional leaders are asking the Internal Revenue Service about recent reports that it has been paying out billions of dollars for improper Earned Income Tax Credit claims.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have introduced legislation that would permanently extend income tax relief for ranchers, farmers and other landowners who donate agricultural land for conservation.

The House Committee on Small Business held hearings on repealing the unpopular expansion of 1099 information reporting in the health care reform bill.

The White House released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 on Monday, with plans for eliminating capital gains taxes on small business investment, while also getting rid of tax breaks for the wealthy and for fossil fuels.

James Doty, the newly appointed chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, believes auditors need to be doing a better job of detecting suspicious patterns and practices at the companies they audit, and to do a better job of communicating their concerns.

Congressmen Brad Sherman, D-Calif., and Michael Conaway, R-Texas, have formed a Bipartisan Congressional CPA Caucus that they plan to co-chair.

Tax strategy patents have been around for more than a decade, ever since a federal appeals court in 1998 validated business method patents, including tax strategies.

The Obama administration is expected to propose a way for states to raise more money in payroll taxes to pay for the cost of unemployment insurance.

A group of 10 Senate Democrats has written to Speaker of the House John Boehner and other House leaders asking them to reduce the budget deficit by eliminating unneeded subsidies and tax breaks for oil companies.

President Obama urged business leaders to begin creating jobs and taking advantage of the tax breaks offered by his administration during a speech Monday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

President Obama urged businesses to make their buildings more energy efficient and called on Congress to provide tax incentives to help.

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted Thursday to approve bipartisan patent reform legislation, including provisions banning tax strategy patents.