Finance

Congressional tax writers have issued a subtle warning to charities and other nonprofit organizations: Start placing a heavier emphasis on serving diverse communities, or you may risk losing your tax-exempt status.That was the veiled threat leveled at tax-exempt organizations during a round of hearings before the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee. In announcing the hearing, Chairman John Lewis, D-Ga., noted that while "charitable organizations play a key role in our country's ability to respond to the needs of its communities, those communities are becoming increasingly diverse."

The House Ways and Means Committee has passed a bill by a margin of 22 to 13 that would keep the Alternative Minimum Tax from spreading to more than 23 million families, which the full House is expected to debate this week.

When the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council met in September to discuss the use of International Financial Reporting Standards, they found themselves answering questions with questions.FASAC, which advises the Financial Accounting Standards Board on a variety of issues, had been given the task of providing perspectives on where accounting and financial reporting might be going over the next two or three decades - with special consideration of the role of IFRS.

Leaders of the congressional tax-writing committees told the Internal Revenue Service that they planned to make imminent changes in the alternative minimum tax, and that the IRS should start producing accurate tax forms for the 2007 filing season.

The American Institute of CPAs said that it supports H.R. 3359, a bill pending in Congress that would create a uniform national standard for state withholding of nonresident income tax.

The House Ways and Means Committee began considering a bill that would give tax breaks to members of the military and their families, as well as volunteer firefighters and emergency workers.

No sooner was House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel's proposal for overhauling the alternative minimum tax released than it was pronounced "dead on arrival."

The House passed a bill extending the moratorium on Internet access taxes by seven years, putting the period on par with a recently passed Senate bill and sending the bill to President Bush for his signature.

The New York State Society of CPAs has offered its own solution for the problem of the expanding alternative minimum tax, as the issue continues to get debated in Washington.

The U.S. Senate has voted to extend a moratorium on state and local taxes for Internet access for seven years.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has introduced a bill aimed at repealing the alternative minimum tax and cutting the top corporate tax rate while raising taxes in other areas, including on the salaries of hedge fund and private equity fund managers.

The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on allowing U.S. companies to use International Financial Reporting Standards.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Congress should stop dithering on passing a fix for the Alternative Minimum Tax.

The House of Representatives has approved a bill that would ban private tax collections, but the bill's prospects remain uncertain in the Senate.

A high-ranking Treasury Department official has warned of the costs of tax-exempt bond financing for projects such as sports stadiums.

Republican presidential candidates debated their tax-lowering credentials at an event sponsored by CNBC, MSNBC and The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday evening.

The push to raise taxes on hedge funds, private equity firms and their managers seems to have stalled for this year in Congress.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would provide relief to homeowners facing the threat of taxes on their foreclosed homes in the midst of the subprime mortgage meltdown.

In a vote that may have a wide-ranging effect on the accounting profession, House lawmakers voted 220-175 to overhaul patent rules and place a ban on tax-planning-method patents.HR 1908, the Patent Reform Act of 2007, primarily contains provisions that would make it harder to get patents and harder for companies to be sued for patent infringement. However, it also contains a provision that would protect accounting firms from lawsuits over tax-planning methods.

The deadline for compliance with final Section 409A regulations, scheduled for Dec. 31, 2007, should be extended for a year, according to 92 of the largest law firms in the nation.The new regulations, finalized in April, require deferred-compensation plans to be amended to comply with the Internal Revenue Code.