Finance

President Bush called for an economic stimulus plan that includes tax breaks for individuals and businesses.

Presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., proposed cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent, matching Rudolph Giuliani's plan.

A watchdog group, Americans United for Church and State, has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate a Nevada church whose pastor called for the election of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

The Congressional Budget Office has released a report on various options for stimulating the economy, including cutting personal and corporate taxes.

President Bush is considering a variety of options for an economic stimulus package to perk up the economy, reportedly including a possible tax rebate of $500 for individuals, along with business tax breaks to encourage equipment investments.

The Internal Revenue Service said the upcoming tax-filing season would start on time in mid-January, except for up to 13.5 million taxpayers who will have to wait until Feb. 11 if they need to file any of five forms affected by the late enactment of a patch for the alternative minimum tax.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has announced his tax plan, saying he would permanently repeal the alternative minimum tax and make the Bush tax cuts permanent.

President Bush signed into law a one-year patch for the alternative minimum tax, in addition to a $555-billion omnibus spending bill to fund government operations through 2008.

The House has again passed the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, an effort to help people whose homes have been foreclosed by canceling taxes on any mortgage debt they have been forgiven.

The House approved an amended version of a bill that delivers tax relief to members of the armed services, in addition to emergency volunteers.

The House has passed a fix for the alternative minimum tax, voting 352-64 to keep up to 23 million taxpayers from falling prey to the AMT.

Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, America's financial institution auditors - internal and external - were called to the trenches of the war against terrorism.Under Section 352 of the USA Patriot Act, they have been required to verify that their institutions have adequate risk assessment and prevention systems in place.

The House has voted to approve a $78 billion bill that would provide a temporary fix to prevent the alternative minimum tax from spreading to about 23 million more taxpayers this coming tax season.Congress was under pressure to pass an AMT fix in time to allow the Internal Revenue Service to produce the necessary tax forms without delaying processing and refunds. However, in a sign of the controversy over provisions to raise taxes on some high-income taxpayers and close loopholes, no Republicans voted for the bill and eight Democrats voted against it.

The U.S. Senate has passed a version of the energy bill after removing a controversial tax increase on major oil and gas producers from the version approved by the House.

The Institute of Management Accountants hailed Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox's plan to delay implementation for one year of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404(b) requirements for small public companies, but expressed some reservations.

The House passed a new version of its patch for the alternative minimum tax that eliminates a controversial provision to raise taxes on the carried interest earnings of managers of private equity firms and hedge funds.

The Senate and House have passed a bill that will provide tax relief to the victims of the Virginia Tech University shootings and their families.

The Senate passed a bill that would keep the alternative minimum tax from spreading to 23 million taxpayers, but without including any of the offsetting revenue-generating provisions included in a version of the bill passed last month by the House.

Defying a veto threat from the White House, the House passed legislation that would encourage the use of renewable energy, raise automobile fuel efficiency standards and increase taxes on major oil and gas companies, but the measure promptly stalled when it reached the Senate.

The House has introduced legislation to amend the Tax Code to modify the penalty on the understatement of taxpayer's liability by preparers.