Finance

After years of sounding the fiscal imbalance bell, Comptroller General David Walker, the head of the Government Accountability Office, has committed a to-do list to paper for the 110th Congress.In a letter dated Nov. 17, Walker outlines a number of areas his federal watchdog agency, says the newly-elected politicians should consider in getting a “jump-start” on legislative planning.

My first brush with the National Collegiate Athletic Association came during my tenure as sports editor of my college newspaper. Two star players from the hockey team had been slapped with season-long suspensions for accepting room and board -- not even money, mind you -- while playing as juniors in Canada.

In a new report to Congress, the Government Accountability Office takes a hard look at how the Internal Revenue Services manages its paperwork and customer service.

In a 25-page response NCAA president Myles Brand made an adamant case for his association’s tax-exempt status, following questions raised by the outgoing chairman of the House’s Committee on Ways and Means.Brand cited new NCAA penalties for poor team-wide academic performance and rising player graduation rates as evidence of the association's attention to education, adding that school spending on athletics -- including hikes in coaches' salaries -- are driven by a media and consumer market beyond the association’s control.

Democratic leaders are already making promises that the future of the alternative minimum tax will be the focus of the debate over next year's budget, according to published reports.

My fifth grade teacher was, in, simplistic terms, an angry dolt who never should have been allowed in front of a classroom of impressionable young minds.

Home mortgage loan giant Fannie Mae announced that it expects the tab on a review of its accounting, as well as the preparation of up-to-date financial statements for the first time since the end of 2004, to run upwards of $1 billion this year.

Not that things were going super smoothly before, but the path to turning any of President Bush’s second-term agenda into meaningful change just got a lot harder following yesterday’s election.

The Tax Policy Center has released a series of data tables taking a look at the effect of the major tax changes enacted since 2001.

CPAs in Congress came to the rescue of their profession with the passage of a bill that eliminated the need to send privacy notices to clients."The Financial Services Relief Act of 2006 is a common-sense bill that will give CPAs more time to serve their clients," said Rep. Colin C. Peterson, D-Minn. "As a CPA myself, I can tell you that it's more important to spend time working with clients than it is to be filling out redundant paperwork."

Earlier this year, Congress passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006.Included in that legislation are some features that encourage preparation and spending for long-term care. In particular, the act allows the transfer of excess pension benefits to fund estimated retiree medical costs, and it permits annuity and life insurance contracts to expand their coverage to include long-term-care costs, including skilled care from medical professionals and custodial care (such as assistance with bathing, eating, dressing, walking, etc.).

Congress left town without passing a number of tax breaks that expired at the end of 2005, including the option to deduct state sales taxes in place of state income tax, a deduction for college tuition and fees, the deduction for school teachers, and a research and development credit.Although the breaks themselves are not controversial, and leaders of the Senate Finance Committee pushed for their enactment, the breaks became mired in political infighting when they were attached to "trifecta" legislation that would have included an increase in the minimum wage and a slash in estate tax rates.

The Internal Revenue Service is pushing back the printing schedule for a number of its tax products, including several versions of the 1040 and 1099 forms.Earlier this month, the IRS warned the Senate Finance Committee tax staff that delays in enacting a number of expiring tax breaks could have an adverse impact on tax administration -- affecting outside contracts with vendors to get the forms and instructions printed, and possibly eventually having a negative impact on collections.

In response to a senator’s inquiry, the Government Accountability Office will review the operations of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division and compliance department.

In a press conference timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of President Reagan’s signing the last major tax reform act into law, former Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued a call for another tax reform push.Wyden has introduced his Fair Flat Tax Act in the Senate, which includes provisions to lower tax rates and broaden the overall tax base. The legislation would allow taxpayers to file their returns on a simplified, single-page 1040 form; collapse individual tax brackets from the current six down to just three; and set a single, flat corporate rate. The bill would also end the alternative minimum tax and contains a unique provision to provide a refundable 10-percent tax credit for every taxpayer’s state and local taxes -- a benefit for taxpayers who don’t itemize.

A federal panel is recommending changes to governmental accounting that would require the cost of future Social Security and Medicare payments to be accounted for year-by-year as workers accumulate entitlements.

The chairman of the Joint Economic Committee is asking the Internal Revenue Service to refrain from taxing online gamers.

Political fundraisers for the accounting profession have already contributed nearly $6 million to the campaigns of more than 300 candidates in this fall's congressional elections, including House and Senate hopefuls from both political parties and every spot on the American political spectrum.Donations from the accounting industry's free-spending political action committees have been spread around to an assortment of candidates, ranging from liberal Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Barney Frank, to arch-conservative Mississippi Republican Sen. Trent Lott.

Congress left town without passing a number of tax breaks that expired at the end of 2005 -- among them the option to deduct state and local sales taxes in place of state income tax, a deduction for college tuition and fees, the deduction for school teachers, and a research and development credit for business.Although the breaks themselves are not controversial, and leaders of the Senate Finance Committee pushed for their enactment before Congress adjourned, the breaks became mired in political infighting when they were attached to “trifecta” legislation that would have included an increase for the minimum wage and a slash in estate tax rates.

The Tax Foundation has cross-tabulated state demographics with tax data from the Internal Revenue Service to take a look at which states benefited the most from the tax cuts enacted under the Bush administration in 2001 and 2003.