Finance

The Senate failed to pass a bill on Wednesday night to extend unemployment benefits and the closing date for home purchases that could qualify for the Homebuyer Tax Credit, although it later managed to pass the Homebuyer Tax Credit closing date extension separately.

The House passed the financial regulatory reform bill that emerged from a House-Senate conference committee by a 237-192 margin.

Over 300 small business owners attended an Obama administration small business forum at the U.S. Department of Commerce on Monday.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has launched an investigation into the tax practices of Transocean Ltd., the owner of the offshore drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico this past April, leading to the disastrous oil spill.

The Senate has introduced a bill aimed at helping small businesses access credit and capital and create jobs.

The House voted Tuesday to extend the closing deadline for taxpayers seeking the Homebuyer Tax Credit.

After the Senate failed three times last week to pass the mammoth tax extenders and unemployment benefits extension bill last week, the House and Senate have introduced stand-alone bills to extend unemployment benefits.

Senate Democrats may be forced to set aside tax extenders and unemployment benefits legislation after they were unable to overcome a Republican-led filibuster for the third time.

A House and Senate conference committee has put the finishing touches to the financial regulatory reform bill.

Senate Democrats have introduced the latest version of their mammoth tax extenders and unemployment benefits extension legislation, further modifying provisions such as the taxation of carried interest of hedge fund managers and private equity firm partners and reducing the cost to under $110 billion in part by scaling back Medicaid aid to states.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sent a letter to Congress in support of reinstating lapsed tax provisions that require polluters to pay for the Superfund for environmental cleanup.

Peter Orszag, the White House Budget Director and one of the driving forces behind the passage of the $787 billion economic stimulus package, will step down from his post.

The House passed legislation to incentivize community banks to increase their small-business lending.

Corporations that issued stock options to their executives claimed tax deductions that were collectively $52 billion larger than the expenses shown on their books in 2008, according to newly released data.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has scaled back the carried interest and S corporation tax provisions, in addition to several others, after the tax extenders and unemployment legislation hit a speed bump in the Senate.

The upper and lower houses of the Swiss Parliament have ratified a deal between the Swiss and U.S. governments to share information on approximately 4,450 U.S.-based customers of Swiss bank UBS with the U.S. government.

The Senate has approved an amendment to extend the closing deadline for homebuyers who qualified for the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit.

The tax extender and unemployment benefits bill failed to clear a 60-vote hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday.

The American Institute of CPAs and the National Society of Accountants are voicing their opposition to a provision in the tax extenders and unemployment legislation that could increase the self-employment taxes paid by some professional services firms organized as S corporations.

The House approved the Small Business Jobs Tax Relief Act of 2010 on Tuesday by a bipartisan majority of 247-170.