Practice Management

The Internal Revenue Service has submitted its Taxpayer Assistance Blueprint to Congress, as part of its response to Capitol Hill’s demand for the development of a five-year plan to improve the delivery of taxpayer service. The blueprint contains the joint response of the IRS, the IRS Oversight Board and the National Taxpayer Advocate. The groups all said that the document represents the most extensive IRS research ever conducted into the needs, preferences and behaviors of taxpayers and partners who assist them in complying with the tax laws, such as volunteer and paid tax return preparers.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that more than 1 million business taxpayers have electronically filed tax returns so far this year.

Along with making the case to keep executive compensation the way it is, the Financial Executives International recently said that investors are not well served by the complexity of financial reporting and released a four-point plan to address the problem.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight says that changes still need to come at mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun to urge taxpayers who need additional time to complete their tax return to submit their request for an automatic extension electronically by April 17.

For the procrastinators among us -- well, for those of us who don’t prepare taxes for a living, of course -- the concerns of tax season probably didn’t take hold until recently.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued final regulations on the treatment of nonqualified deferred compensation plans and arrangements under Section 409(a) of the tax code.

The Internal Revenue Service has updated the list of areas included as being within the "North American area," referred to in Section 274(h) of the Internal Revenue Code.The section of the tax code limits deductions for expenses incurred in connection with a convention, seminar, or similar meeting held outside the “North American area.” In a recent revenue ruling, the agency updated the list of all geographical areas currently included in the North American area for purposes of the section.

Husband and wife grape-growers in Geyserville, Calif., got some mixed news last week, after the U.S. Tax Court took a closer look at how they could depreciate improvements made to their vineyard.The court found that although Leo and Evelyn Trendadue properly classified wine grape trellises on their land as farm machinery or equipment, because the irrigation systems and well the couple built on their property have a longer class life (20 years, as opposed to 10 years) those enhancements should be classified -- and depreciated for -- as permanent land improvements.

According to published reports, House Democrats are preparing legislation to permanently shield all but the wealthiest of taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax.According to the New York Times, the plan is still in its early stages, but would have the end goal of exempting millions from the tax -- although how exactly the revenue loss would be offset remains to be determined. The newspaper said that by the close of May, House Democrats hope to draft a permanent overhaul of the AMT that would exclude anyone who earns less than about $200,000 a year -- which covers about 97 percent of taxpayers.