Tax practice

As we come down to the wire for the beginning of busy season, it’s important to review some of the things we may already know, or think we know, about reporting and filing requirements.

The Information Reporting Program Advisory Committee has released its annual report for 2013, including numerous recommendations to the IRS commissioner on new and existing issues in tax administration.

Tax practitioners will be charging more this year for tax preparation, according to an annual survey by the National Society of Accountants.

President Barack Obama’s nominee to run the Internal Revenue Service said it’s not a high priority to create tax returns that already include information that taxpayers would check, complete and send to the agency.

Tax preparation giant H&R Block reported a loss for the second quarter due to a fall in international tax prep fees.

John Koskinen, President Barack Obama’s nominee to run the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, said at a Senate panel’s confirmation hearing that he would work to restore the public’s trust in the tax agency.

Even though the IRS has made improvements in information security, there are still weak spots in its in system access controls, audit trails, and remediation of security flaws, according to a new report.

A federal court in Georgia has dismissed a case challenging the IRS’s power to charge tax practitioners for the Preparer Tax ID Numbers, or PTINs, that they are required to have to prepare taxes professionally.

The IRS has issued its 2014 optional standard mileage rates to calculate deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

The House Small Business Committee held a hearing to determine whether businesses are considered single or multiple entities under the health care reform law, and the compliance ramification for multi-owner business ownership.

Ernst & Young has published the latest edition of its annual tax guide ahead of the New Year.

The Internal Revenue Service is losing billions of dollars to fraudsters every year from stolen Employer Identification Numbers, according to a new government report, even though it has some processes in place to authenticate individuals who apply for an EIN.

More than 122 million returns were e-filed during this year in what the IRS calls a “milestone” for e-filing.

The Internal Revenue Service has taken steps to improve its management controls for technology that will help it implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, to improve U.S. tax compliance involving foreign financial assets and offshore accounts, according to a new report, but more work needs to be done.

The increasing globalization of the economy is resulting in more small and medium-size businesses seeking to expand internationally. While companies are extending their products and services across borders, many don’t consider the compliance and planning issues that come with doing so.

The IRS needs to improve its procedures to enable taxpayers to access their tax account information and identities online in a secure way, according to a new report.

The Supreme Court held that the 40 percent gross valuation misstatement penalty applies to overstated basis where partnerships were shams, so no partner could legitimately claim a basis in the partnership interest greater than zero.

The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a hearing next Tuesday to consider the nomination of John Koskinen as the next Internal Revenue Service commissioner as the agency seeks to emerge from a series of recent scandals that have prompted the departures of a number of high-ranking officials.

Big data and bad data are proving to be a big challenge for tax departments at major corporations, according to a new survey that found them spending a disproportionate amount of time consolidating and gathering information, reconciling it, and detecting and correcting errors.

On top of the other problems associated with the troubled rollout of the federal government’s online health insurance exchange, the Internal Revenue Service is now being urged to strengthen the security and anti-fraud protections for the tax credits it will be providing to help taxpayers afford the cost of the insurance premiums.