Practice and client management

President Obama nominated former prosecutor Mary Jo White as the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Internal Revenue Service is offering guidance on mortgage principal reductions in the federal government’s program for mortgage modifications for borrowers who have fallen behind on their payments.

The Internal Revenue Service said it will appeal a court’s ruling that it lacks the power to license tax preparers, a decision that might affect as many as 700,000 people who work on clients’ returns.

Four states have signed up for a new system aimed at combating the growing problem of identity theft-related tax fraud.

Mergers and acquisitions are expected to increase in 2013, according to a new survey, with 76 percent of the more than 300 M&A professionals in the U.S. who were polled anticipating that their company will make at least one acquisition in 2013.

The majority of small businesses want a long-term solution to the debt ceiling so the U.S. can pay its bills and the issue does not repeatedly come up for votes in Congress, according to a new survey.

The Internal Revenue Service is asking for input on the acceptable standards it should put in place for electronic signatures.

The Internal Revenue Service provided advice to taxpayers Wednesday on dealing with the late opening of tax season on January 30 that could also prove helpful to tax preparers.

Unfortunately, recent events make fundamental tax reform, already a heavy lift, much less likely.

While Section 179D of the Tax Code expires at the end of 2013, opportunities exist in two areas: accelerating future projects into 2013 and reviewing projects dating back to Jan. 1, 2006 that resulted in energy savings.

The American Institute of CPAs has written to the leaders of Congress’s tax-writing committees asking them to expand the replacement period for property loss for taxpayers affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The Internal Revenue Service reported that audits of individuals topped 1 million in fiscal year 2012 for the sixth year in a row, a coverage rate of 1.03 percent of all tax returns filed, while audits in the upper income ranges remained substantially higher than other categories.

The Internal Revenue Service reacted Tuesday to the surprise ruling Friday by a federal judge striking down the IRS’s authority to regulate tax preparers, shutting down its Preparer Tax Identification Number registration system and its testing system for tax preparers.

Reactions among tax preparers to Friday’s court decision striking down the legality of the IRS RTRP mandate ranged from relief to recognition that the tax prep industry needs standards. But a survey of various tax prep-related groups on LinkedIn shows that the decision mostly raised questions.

In a stunning blow to the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to regulate the tax preparation profession, a federal judge struck down the IRS’s licensing requirements for tax preparers on Friday, including testing and continuing education.

Clients have a lot of questions this year beyond just higher taxes. Preparers report they’ve already begun fielding inquiries about the later start to tax season and possible delays in refunds.

The IRS will issue guidance soon to provide relief from the estimated tax penalty for farmers and fishermen unable to file and pay their 2012 taxes by the March 1 deadline due to the delayed start for filing tax returns.

The recent fiscal cliff tax deal extends the ability to treat mortgage insurance premiums as qualified residential interest, and the Internal Revenue Service is providing guidance on how to report the premiums on Form 1098, both electronically and on paper.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have issued a long-awaited set of final regulations implementing the information reporting and withholding tax provisions of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act aimed at combating offshore tax evasion, with far-reaching implications for U.S.-born taxpayers abroad, in addition to foreign financial institutions as well as U.S. banks.

Tax seminars, new websites, new service to help clients gauge M&A deal values and more...