Practice and client management

IMGCAP(1)]Technological advances have made direct deposits of refunds, paychecks and other items enormously popular in recent years. The system normally works very well, and can usually be relied upon as a way to transfer money quickly and easily between parties. However, if something goes wrong at any point in the process, my experience has shown that correcting the matter can be almost impossible, and chances are very good that someone will lose his money.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a set of proposed rules that would make it easier for tax preparers to contact clients about tax law developments, send out newsletters and deal with liability insurance claims.

Tax revenue for state and local governments fell 6.7 percent in the third quarter, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of negative growth.

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a report that examines more effective ways to protect consumers from fraudulent financial schemes.

The Treasury Department said a new protocol amending the income tax treaty with France has entered into force.

The American Institute of CPAs said it strongly supports recently introduced legislation requiring the comptroller general, who leads the Government Accountability Office, to be a CPA.

The bank that Jackson Hewitt Tax Service uses to process and administer its refund anticipation loans will not be in a position to originate RALs for the 2010 tax season, according to the company.

H&R Block will be among the tax preparation businesses that will be taking advantage of a new IRS initiative aimed at helping taxpayers build their nest eggs by allocating a portion of their tax refund toward the purchase of U.S. savings bonds.

The Internal Revenue Service has extended its moratorium on collecting penalties on listed tax shelter transactions from small businesses after an influential senator threatened to block the nominations of key Treasury Department nominees.

Accounting firm Eisner LLP has introduced its 2010 Personal Tax Guide, which is available on the firm’s Web site and as a download to the Amazon Kindle e-reader.

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, threatened to hold up the confirmation of all nominees to Treasury Department posts unless the Treasury and the IRS do more to ease tax penalties on small businesses.

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee said they intend to work on passing legislation to extend expiring tax breaks early next year.

The Internal Revenue Service released its 2010 inflation adjustments to the excise taxes on airport transportation, with at least some of them ascending.

The Internal Revenue Service is unable to verify taxpayer eligibility for the majority of the tax benefits and credits provided by the Recovery Act, according to a new report.

The Senate’s brand-new 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services is bound to lead to some further creative thinking about how to generate extra revenue to cover the costs of health care reform.

For at least the first few days of 2010, and probably longer, executors of the estates of people dying after Dec. 31, 2009, will be operating in a difficult environment after the Senate’s failure to extend the estate tax at its current rates.

A new report by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration found that millions of people may have improperly received Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers from the IRS that could be used to fraudulently claim tax refunds.

Accounting Today is in the midst of compiling its annual lists of the Top 100 Firms and Regional Leaders.

The Senate overcame a key procedural hurdle early Monday morning on the arduous journey to approving health care reform legislation with a 1:00 am vote approving an amendment by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that made changes to secure the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster.

The House passed two bills earlier this month with provisions related to the use of Extensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL, the interactive data-tagging technology that the SEC has begun requiring large public companies to use when filing their financial statements.