Practice management

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

When was the last time you saw an auditorium, full of experts, get truly excited about tax theory?

A new report from the National Academy of Sciences explains how the U.S. is falling behind other nations, including Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union, in combating illicit tobacco sales and tobacco tax abuse.

Approximately 800,000 taxpayers who received health care coverage through the federal insurance marketplace Healthcare.gov were sent the wrong information on their Form 1095-A and are being urged to wait to file their taxes until the first week of March when they receive the correct information from the federal government.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Friday morning announced it will implement a special enrollment period for individuals who learn, at the time they file their taxes, of the Affordable Care Act-mandated tax penalty for not having health insurance coverage.

Highlights of some of our favorite tax-related blogs from the past week.

Three Swiss bankers accused in 2012 of helping Americans hide more than $1.2 billion from the Internal Revenue Service face new charges of obstructing the agency from collecting taxes on undeclared accounts.

It takes a heap o’ living just to make a house a home, as the old poem teaches. In Joel Evans’ case, he did enough living in two houses in Louisiana to make the U.S. his tax home.

The Internal Revenue Service recently created a group whose goal is to centralize several prior ad hoc efforts to authenticate taxpayers across its systems in an effort to combat identity theft-related tax fraud, but the IRS lacks a good estimate of the costs, benefits and risks, according to a new government report.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state is expanding its network of free tax assistance sites, opening 80 new sites across the Empire State and offering 942 free sessions to New Yorkers, while also dedicating more money toward combating tax fraud.

H&R Block is warning that taxpayers in 12 states will be unable to use certain federal tax breaks on their state tax returns because of Congress’s late passage of tax extenders legislation, leading to lower state tax refunds.

Caterpillar Inc. said the Internal Revenue Service has “proposed” tax increases and penalties of about $1 billion after examining its U.S. returns for 2007 to 2009, including a loss carryback to 2005.

A CPA has released what he is calling a “survival kit” for the Internal Revenue Service’s recently revised repair regulations for tangible property.

Ah, the emotions of tax season: the rising sense of intensity and excitement followed by the descent into exhaustion.

The Internal Revenue Service warned tax preparers and other tax professionals to be on guard against bogus emails seeking updated personal or professional information that in reality are phishing schemes.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that it would delay enforcement of an Affordable Care Act prohibition relating to standalone health reimbursement arrangements until July 1.

A group of plaintiffs are suing the Treasury Department, the Social Security Administration, and the District of Columbia, claiming the federal government is continuing to hold onto their tax refunds to pay for supposed overpayments of Social Security benefits decades ago.

The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday it would begin a limited test at 10 of its Taxpayer Assistance Centers to determine whether an appointment-based service approach at its walk-in centers might help reduce taxpayer wait times during a time of severe budget cuts at the agency.

Tonya Keith typically spends four to eight hours doing her taxes each year. This year, she says, “I’ve got about 30 hours in, and I’m not done.” The reason: She and her wife got married last year in Seattle, but they live in Georgia, which doesn’t recognize their marriage.

House Republicans won’t agree to fix Obamacare if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the law bars health-insurance subsidies for millions of people, said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.