Practice and client management

Agency compiles possibilities, but makes no recommendations

COURT ORDERS TEXTRON TO RELEASE TAX PAPERS

A federal court has denied a $473 million tax refund to Schering-Plough after the drug maker sought to avoid taxes on $690 million in profits it repatriated from offshore subsidiaries into the U.S. through some dubious transactions.

Accounting firm Crowe Horwath is responding to the wave of companies filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with a set of services to help them navigate the reorganization process.

The government is about to start offering a Cash for Clunkers type of program for old inefficient appliances this fall, so why not cash for clunker tax returns and financial statements?

The Financial Planning Association is urging SEC Chair Mary Schapiro to clarify and restrict the scope of authority of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority related to financial planning services.

States get aggressive with sales and use tax to close gaps

IRS ADDS TO 'TRANSACTIONS OF INTEREST' LIST

As individuals try to reclaim some of the losses to their retirement portfolios, many tax advisors have become active participants in growing those accounts. With significant percentage gains and losses occurring from month to month, techniques to deal with this unfamiliar territory have become necessary. Some have already been tested by case law, while many others can be evaluated, at least for the time being, only through what's been said in private letter rulings or on the Internal Revenue Service's Web site in informal advice.

The American Institute of CPAs has written to the IRS asking the service to rely on the existing Circular 230 penalty structure for regulating CPA tax preparers rather than impose a new one.

Regional CPA and business advisory firm Weaver and Tidwell has launched a Transaction Advisory Services practice, an arm providing due diligence and business valuations to private equity companies as well as companies in transition.

IRS managers may start supervising tax audits more closely to help resolve disputes between taxpayers and tax examiners.

The Internal Revenue Service should check Form 1098 mortgage interest statements to catch tax dodgers, recommended a new report.

The American Institute of CPAs criticized overly broad and disproportionate tax penalties levied on both tax preparers and taxpayers in a report submitted to Congress’s tax-writing committees, the Treasury Department and the IRS.

A former IRS compliance officer in Las Vegas has pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe in exchange for preparing a false audit report for a taxpayer.

Accounting firm Anderson ZurMuehlen and software developer Forepoint have created a QuickBooks Conference Kit that allows CPA firms, QuickBooks ProAdvisors and others to host their own QuickBooks users conferences.

A former IRS district director who worked for a company that promised to reduce the tax liabilities of home-based business owners has been sentenced to two years in prison.

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants has created an online training resource to help accountants hone their career development plans.

The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, a federal advisory committee of 99 citizen volunteers, made a series of recommendations to the IRS on improving payment installment agreements, the scheduling of audits, fixing problems in 1009 forms and other areas.

Sarbanes-Oxley was the U.S. government’s response to a decade of financial statement frauds that shook the financial community.