Tax practice

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

The Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee have introduced bipartisan legislation to protect taxpayers against the inappropriate use of civil asset forfeitures by the Internal Revenue Service.

As year-end approaches, it would be worthwhile for practitioners to consider whether corporate clients could benefit from the following “last minute” tax-saving moves, including adjustments to income to preserve favorable estimated tax rules for 2015, deferral of certain advance payments to next year, and fine-tuning bonuses to make the most of the Section 199 domestic production activities deduction.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued an announcement extending the “deemed compliant” status of countries that are treated as if they had an intergovernmental agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department in place for purposes of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

The Internal Revenue Service issued the 2015 optional standard mileage rates on Wednesday that are used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

Lawmakers in Congress have included a fourth renewal on the ban on Internet access taxes as part of a spending deal to avert a government shutdown.

Congress has cut the Internal Revenue Service’s budget once again, reducing the tax agency’s fiscal year 2015 budget by 3 percent compared to this year’s funding level.

The IRS is reminding practitioners that the deadline for those who want to participate in the new voluntary Annual Filing Season Program must complete the continuing education requirements by Dec. 31.

U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden said he expects Congress to pass legislation that would permanently extend three lapsed tax breaks for charitable contributions.

U.S. states are taking advantage of an expanding economy to cut taxes by the most in 14 years while spending more on education and other programs, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to do more to reduce the risk of improper payments of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit, according to a new government report.

Deutsche Bank AG was accused of using underfunded shell companies to evade U.S. taxes in a government lawsuit seeking $190 million in taxes, penalties and interest.

The IRS recently updated the Health Insurance Marketplace page on IRS.gov.

Our weekly roundup of tax-related investment strategies and news your clients may be thinking about.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Wolters Kluwer, CCH Small Firm Services has enhanced its ATX and TaxWise software for the 2014 tax season.

Bloomberg BNA has released the inaugural edition of the Bloomberg BNA 2015 Federal Tax Guide, a quick-reference guide for tax practitioners to help with preparing 2014 individual and business tax returns and 2015 planning.

While the traditional end-of-year tax tip checklist contains such tried and true suggestions as defer income and accelerate deductions, there are a number of other steps Tom Wheelwright takes in advising his small business clients.

The House of Representatives has voted to revive dozens of lapsed U.S. tax breaks only for 2014 and the Senate now looks likely to follow suit within days.

The House of Representatives voted to revive dozens of lapsed U.S. tax breaks for this year and set them to expire again on Dec. 31.