Practice and client management

The Internal Revenue Service does not always control or quickly process referrals alleging that tax-exempt organizations are potentially violating federal tax law, according to a new report.

The Tax Court has denied a married couple a charitable contribution deduction for the value of a house they donated to a local fire department for training purposes.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to improve the testing of its new Customer Account Data Engine, according to a new report.

Accounting firms are beginning to find answers to the question of how to measure and value their marketing and social media efforts.

Two employees from Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co. PC, a multi-office firm based in Helena, Mont., with 240 employees. Generation X senior software engineer Luke Muszkiewicz, born in 1978, and Baby Boomer shareholder Kevin Kelley, born in 1949, shared their views on the following question: "How important is employee coaching to the success of the firm?"

Court rulings explore when IRS regulations are due deference.

Highlights in tax news

Three bills before Congress could offer small businesses some tax help.

The House and Senate passed a highway bill Friday that contains provisions to prevent a doubling of the interest rates for subsidized Stafford student loans.

An outside advisory committee to the Internal Revenue Service is asking the agency to reinforce its standards for security, privacy and fraud prevention, including “phantom prepared” returns.

Well, now we know the answer. The individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which the Administration has variously said was a both a tax and not a tax, is, in fact, a tax. That’s what the Supreme Court has called it, as a reason for finding it constitutional.

The House Judiciary Committee’s Crime Subcommittee held a hearing Thursday on the growing problem of identity theft and income tax preparation fraud.

The Internal Revenue Service mails lien notices to taxpayers in a timely manner as required by law, but does not always follow its own regulations for notifying taxpayer representatives and processing undelivered lien notices, according to a new report.

Congressional Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee have introduced a pair of bills to extend the production tax credit for wind energy manufacturers through the end of 2013 and provide a 10 percent income tax credit for employer payroll increases this year.

Only 26 percent of small businesses actually employ full-time or part-time accounting and/or legal help, according to a new survey, even though 64 percent of small business owners say that legal issues should be handled by professionals.

A new Web site called the Accounting Practice Exchange aims to help accountants and tax preparers sell their practices.

The Supreme Court has upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

On the eve of the Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, a new report on the Internal Revenue Service’s readiness to handle some specific aspects of the law has been released.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson has identified the priority issues the Taxpayer Advocate Service will focus on during the upcoming fiscal year.

The Federal Housing Administration insured over $1.44 billion in mortgages for 6,327 borrowers with $77.6 million in federal tax debt who benefited from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Of these borrowers, 3,815 individuals claimed and received $27.4 million of First-Time Homebuyer Credits from the Recovery Act.