Finance

Critical tax legislation and court decisions from last year

Tax provisions in the new transportation funding act

The House has approved tax extenders legislation that makes a number of the periodically expiring tax breaks into permanent features of the tax code.

A set of delays on Obamacare-related taxes in the new federal spending bill will give corporate earnings a modest boost but are unlikely to undo the law or produce significant changes in the health-care industry.

Congressional leaders unveiled a wide-ranging deal on tax extenders, making some items permanent.

Congressional leaders unveiled a broad package of spending and tax legislation that would avert a U.S. government shutdown and lift the 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports.

Senate negotiators are nearing a deal to allow unfettered U.S. crude oil exports for the first time in 40 years, though differences remain on renewable-energy tax credits that Democrats are demanding in return, according to people close to the discussions.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., has introduced a bill to block a proposed regulation from the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department that would give nonprofits the option of asking donors for their Social Security numbers to substantiate donations of more than $250.

In July my column for this space asked whether it was too early to start thinking about tax extenders. Now, the question might better be phrased whether it is too late.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Wednesday urged Congress to take action against companies that avoid taxes by shifting their debt to American soil while moving profit overseas, a technique known as earnings stripping, and said that if they don’t, the Treasury Department should crack down with new rules.

Congressional leaders are pushing to reach a deal on a must-pass U.S. government spending bill as a Friday deadline nears to avoid a federal shutdown, even as they concede that lawmakers may have to work into the weekend and beyond.

As 2015 comes to a close, businesses are once again facing uncertainty as Congress has yet to act on a host of important provisions that expired at the end of 2014.

The American Institute of CPAs is objecting to a bill that was introduced in the House giving the Internal Revenue Service the statutory authority to regulate tax return preparers.

Congress has passed highway-funding legislation that includes two tax provisions that would allow the State Department to revoke the passports of long-term tax delinquents who owe more than $50,000 in tax debts and revive a program requiring the IRS to hire private debt collection agencies.

Two Democrats in Congress have introduced a bill in the House and Senate to protect taxpayer rights and regulate tax preparers.

The House and Senate held hearings Tuesday on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting action plan, also known as OECD BEPS, for combating tax avoidance by multinational corporations.

Congressional staff reportedly worked over the Thanksgiving weekend on negotiations over tax extenders, the dozens of expiring and already expired tax breaks that perennially occupy Washington just before the end of the year.

The National Society of Accountants has released some suggested year-end tax tips for individuals, courtesy of Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting US.

A ‘first look’ at the new partnership audit rules

The U.S. Treasury Department plans to release additional guidance this week aimed at deterring corporate inversions, though it can’t stop such tax-avoidance moves without new authority from Congress, Secretary Jacob J. Lew said.