Tax planning

The Internal Revenue Service announced a formula allowing businesses and tax-exempt organizations to estimate their federal telephone excise tax refunds.In May, the government announced that it would stop collecting the federal excise tax on long-distance telephone service beginning Aug. 1, 2006, and provide refunds for taxes billed after Feb. 28, 2003.

Thomson Tax & Accounting, a unit of Thomson Corp., announced that it has acquired Scottsdale, Ariz.-based ePropertyTax Inc. -- a business that offers a range of property tax solutions by licensing its proprietary software to outsourcing compliance services.

Vice president of taxation for the American Institute of CPAs Tom Ochsenschlager listed the top 10 provisions in recent tax legislation in his keynote speech at the New York State Society of CPAs’ Annual Tax/Plenary Conference on Nov. 16.Provisions folded into the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act Ochsenschlager outlined included:

In a new report to Congress, the Government Accountability Office takes a hard look at how the Internal Revenue Services manages its paperwork and customer service.

In a 25-page response NCAA president Myles Brand made an adamant case for his association’s tax-exempt status, following questions raised by the outgoing chairman of the House’s Committee on Ways and Means.Brand cited new NCAA penalties for poor team-wide academic performance and rising player graduation rates as evidence of the association's attention to education, adding that school spending on athletics -- including hikes in coaches' salaries -- are driven by a media and consumer market beyond the association’s control.

An average refund of $963 is waiting for 95,746 taxpayers whose refund checks have been returned to the Internal Revenue Service as undeliverable.

New guidance from the Internal Revenue Service stresses the need for employers to track the amount of expense reimbursement allowances paid to employees on a per diem basis.

Intuit Inc. has rolled out a new product, Source Doc Auto-Entry, which allows accountants to scan and import client data from common tax documents and import that data directly into the company’s Lacerte and ProSeries software.The solution is designed to work with most Twain-compliant scanners (a category most newer scanners fall into) and will allow tax preparers to digitally scan several client documents simultaneously, including such forms as W-2s, 1099-INTs and 1099-DIVs.

The U.S. Tax Court has again rejected a taxpayer’s attempt to pin the blame for their negligent tax return on tax preparation software.On Nov. 9, the court handed down an opinion finding against a petition filed in New Jersey by Henry R. Broderick.

A partnership between Wolters Kluwer business CCH and consulting firm National Tax Credit Group LLC will allow the companies to offer online delivery of federal and state location-based incentive information.

Democratic leaders are already making promises that the future of the alternative minimum tax will be the focus of the debate over next year's budget, according to published reports.

The Internal Revenue Service announced increases in user fees for installment agreements.The increases -- the first since the fees were implemented in 1995 -- result from increases in labor and other costs of processing the various applications.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson announced the of two new deputy commissioners, in personnel moves effective Dec. 1.Kevin Brown, currently the commissioner of the IRS Small Business and Self-Employed Division, will become deputy commissioner for Services and Enforcement, responsible for overseeing the agency’s four operating divisions, Criminal Investigation and the Office of Professional Responsibility.

My fifth grade teacher was, in, simplistic terms, an angry dolt who never should have been allowed in front of a classroom of impressionable young minds.

Despite an environment that’s putting increased scrutiny on corporate finances, the tax and finance functions of many companies still aren’t on the same page, according to a new research study.According to “Building a More Effective Tax Function,” a report prepared by CFO Research Services and Hudson Financial Solutions, large gaps exist between tax professionals’ and finance professionals’ perceptions of how the tax function performed and what the group’s priorities are.

Personal exemptions and standard deductions will rise, tax brackets will widen and income limits for individual retirement accounts will increase in 2007, due to inflation adjustments announced by the Internal Revenue Service.

The Tax Court reaffirmed that proceeds from the sale of a right to future annual lottery payments constitutes ordinary income, not capital gain, after reviewing two test cases involving winners of the Florida State Lottery.

Merck & Co. disclosed four separate tax disputes that have combined potential liabilities for the drug maker of more than $5.5 billion.

Florida lawyer Milton Baxley II, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine for committing contempt of court by violating an injunction barring him from promoting a tax scheme.

Following a drastic fall last week, Canadian stock exchange shares have risen as buyers came back into the market a day after a government proposal to change the tax treatment of income trusts.About 10 percent of the country’s benchmark stock index are among the securities classification targeted by the proposal. Under the proposal, the Canadian government would impose a distribution tax on payouts by income trusts, taking effect next year for newly formed trusts, while existing trusts receive a four-year transition period.