Tax practice

The Indiana congressional delegation has sent a letter to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen asking for an investigation into reports that hundreds of Indiana doctors and health care professionals have been victimized by identity theft.

As the May 15 deadline approaches for tax-exempt organizations to file the Form 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, the Internal Revenue Service is warning them not to include Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information in their tax forms.

A tax preparer in Rochester, N.Y., faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $853,766 after creating fictitious employers for clients and filing tax returns claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit on their behalf.

Almost 50 years after Oscar-winning actor Yul Brynner gave up his passport at the U.S. embassy in the Swiss capital, the number of Americans relinquishing their citizenship jumped 47 percent in the first quarter.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a revenue procedure and notice to provide temporary penalty relief to plan administrators who don’t file their Form 5500 or 5500 EZ forms on time.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Congressmen Mark Pocan, D-Wis., and Scott Peters, D-Calif., along with 21 other House Democrats, have introduced legislation to lower all federal student loans to 4 percent and allow borrowers to refinance their student loans at a lower rate.

A pair of Democratic senators said they intend to close loopholes in the corporate inversion tax rules that encourage multinational corporations to move their headquarters outside the U.S. by acquiring a company overseas.

The Internal Revenue Service said it is looking at a plan to realign compliance operations inside its two largest business units, Wage and Investment (W&I) and Small-Business Self Employed (SB/SE).

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to revive the tax credit for corporate research, expand it and make it permanent.

The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to turn over the rest of the outstanding emails from Lois Lerner, the former director of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations unit, to the House Ways and Means Committee.

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

The Internal Revenue Service is putting the focus on small businesses next week in connection with Small Business Week with a pair of webinars on independent contractors and major tax mistakes.

Thomson Reuters has formed a strategic relationship with Avention to give users of its ONESOURCE Transfer Pricing software access to Avention’s industry report module.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to hold a former Internal Revenue Service official in contempt of Congress yesterday for refusing to answer questions about her role in scrutinizing Tea Party groups.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen testified before the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee on Wednesday about the 2014 tax filing season and other matters, including problems with administering the Earned Income Tax Credit and oversight of tax preparers.

There are a number of due dates that don’t apply to all taxpayers, but are easily missed when they do apply and will subject the taxpayer to harsh penalties if they overlook them.

Switzerland and Singapore agreed to automatically share bank data across borders as governments around the world seek to crack down on tax evasion.

The House Ways and Means Committee may have broken the law when it publicly disclosed confidential taxpayer information in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.

Nearly two-thirds of corporate tax leaders are skeptical about the two-year timeline set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for curbing multinational tax avoidance, according to a new survey by KPMG.