Practice management

If the number of congressional hearings on tax reform this year is an indication of the potential for passage, it seems possible that something may actually be in the works.

The Internal Revenue Service does not have enough data to identify who claims a tax expenditure and how much they claim, for nearly half the dollar value of all tax expenditures, or $492 billion out of $1 trillion, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

The enhancements that the Internal Revenue Service is making to its Modenized e-File computer system promise to improve the system’s reliability and reduce delays in processing tax returns next filing season, according to a new report.

An advocacy group has filed a lawsuit in a Washington, D.C., federal court on behalf of 25 Tea Party and conservative organizations against the Internal Revenue Service and top IRS officials, in addition to the U.S. Attorney General and Treasury Secretary, and Internal Revenue Service, arguing that the Obama administration overstepped its authority in subjecting applications for tax-exempt status from Tea Party groups to extra scrutiny.

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office found that the top 10 tax expenditures are distributed unevenly across the income scale, with much of the benefit going to the top-earning 1 percent of the population.

With the start of this year’s hurricane season, the Internal Revenue Service is encouraging individuals and businesses to protect themselves in the event of a natural disaster by taking a few simple steps.

The American Institute of CPAs has introduced a new certificate program for accounting firms expanding their financial forensics practice.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to take more aggressive action to address the fraudulent misuse of individually billed travel cards, according to a new report.

It's a simple fact that more firms -- traditional VARs and otherwise -- are considering a partnership with a cloud vendor. BCG Systems president Mark Goodson describes 5 key points when evaluating making that move.

Switzerland proposed a bill that it says will provide the legal basis for the country’s banks, including Credit Suisse Group AG and Julius Baer Group Ltd., to resolve a tax-evasion dispute with the U.S.

The Internal Revenue Service has appointed David Fisher, chief financial officer of the Government Accountability Office, as a senior executive to help the tax agency recover from the controversy over its scrutiny of small-government groups.

Finance executives are bouncing back from the recession with a new focus on business expansion with the help of technology such as mobile devices, according to a new report.

Speaking about the Internal Revenue Service’s alleged targeting of conservative political groups, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said, “My question isn’t about who’s going to resign. My question is who is going to jail?”

A group of tax practitioners, a former IRS agent and the nonprofit Tax Foundation have filed an amicus brief in support of a trio of tax preparers who successfully filed suit against the Internal Revenue Service to stop its program for mandatory testing and continuing education of Registered Tax Return Preparers.

The European Council of Ministers has agreed to take steps to combat the use of corporate tax strategies that shift profits to low-tax countries to avoid paying taxes.

An Internal Revenue Service employee has been charged with embezzling government funds for using a government-issued purchase card to go on a shopping spree at Amazon.com.

The Internal Revenue Service, currently under fire in Congress for its screening of applications for tax exempt status by conservative groups, could also use some improvement in the way it conducts examinations of individual tax returns, according to a new government report.

Guests at the Meet the Editors dinner at Keens Steakhouse in New York give their assessments of the many opportunities available to accountants for growing their practices. Interviewees include Craig Walker of Xero, Kerri Gibson of CCH Small Firm Services, LeeAnn McNeill of ADP Small Business Services, Scott Fleszar of the Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters and Dave Clarke of Kashoo.

A pair of lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill in the House that would provide relief to nonprofits, such as the Girl Scouts, which now have higher pension funding rules than taxable, for-profit companies.

Lois Lerner, the mid-level Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the controversy over scrutiny of small-government groups seeking tax-exempt status, is being replaced on an acting basis, the IRS said today.