In Brief

IRS APPOINTS NEW COMMISSIONER

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Internal Revenue Service named Linda Stiff as the replacement for outgoing Acting Commissioner Kevin Brown.

Brown stepped down to accept a job as chief operating officer at the American Red Cross, where he will be working under another former IRS commissioner, Mark W. Everson, who took over as CEO and president of the Red Cross in April.

In addition to becoming acting commissioner, Stiff will move from her current post as deputy commissioner for operations support to the job of deputy commissioner for services and enforcement. Stiff has been in charge of personnel services, technology and security at the IRS. Replacing her in the operations support post will be Richard Spires, currently chief information officer. He has been overseeing the technology modernization effort at the IRS and will continue his involvement in that.

IRS ISSUES NEW CORPORATE, PARTNERSHIP TAX FORM DRAFTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Internal Revenue Service has released drafts of the updated income tax forms for corporations and partnerships, and is asking for comments before it finalizes the changes for tax year 2008 and beyond.

The IRS said that the changes will help it focus its compliance efforts better, but the agency also wants to find out how the changes would affect the burden on taxpayers. The main change to Form 1120 corporate returns involves ownership. The IRS wants businesses to identify entities that own 10 percent or more of the corporation and individuals who own 50 percent or more.

Corporations would also need to identify any foreign or domestic company in which they own 10 percent or more of the total stock voting power, or any foreign or domestic partnership in which they have an interest of 10 percent or more. The IRS has added a new Schedule B for corporations that file a Schedule M-3. It asks questions about ownership, allocations, transfers of interest, cost-sharing arrangements and changes in accounting methods.

For Form 1065, many of the changes also involve ownership issues for the partnerships. A new Schedule B for partnerships that file a Schedule M-3 requires them to divulge any entities that have a direct or indirect ownership interest of 10 percent or more in the partnership. They also have to list any entities of which the partnership owns 10 percent or more. In addition, partnerships have to reveal information about like-kind exchanges and canceled debt.

A new Schedule C for partnerships that file an M-3 requires them to provide information about related-party transactions. They also have to identify the identities of any individuals or entities that own 50 percent or more of the partnership. There have also been revisions to the K-1 that require partnerships to identify contributions and distributions of built-in gain or loss property.

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Tax practice
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