Tax practice

A federal court has permanently barred tax lawyer Scott A. Waage of San Diego and his law firm from providing tax advice and from preparing federal tax returns for others.

As hurricane season begins, the IRS directs preparers and taxpayers to its disaster-planning primer designed to help preserve tax records before and after catastrophes.

Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting has acquired the assets of BSI, a provider of international tax, legal, business and investment information.

The Internal Revenue Service is making changes in its letter-forwarding program and no longer intends to try to locate a missing taxpayer who may be entitled to a retirement plan payment or other financial benefit.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service is revising the criteria it uses to accept cases from taxpayers who are having trouble dealing with the Internal Revenue Service to cut down on its caseload.

Congress has a lot of tax issues on its plate between now and the end of the year.

Recent tax news

Proponents of states' ability to require remote vendors to collect and hand over sales tax are positioning themselves for hoped-for legislative action before the end of the year.

California’s State Board of Equalization is warning that beginning Sept. 15, a new law will take effect expanding the types of out-of-state retailers who are required to register with the board and requires them to begin collecting and remitting use tax on sales of tangible personal property to California consumers.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney told an enthusiastic Republican National Convention that unlike his rival Barack Obama, he would not raise taxes on small businesses or the middle class.

The Internal Revenue Service took the wraps off its new Web site Thursday, with new navigation and language features.

The American Institute of CPAs has written a letter to Internal Revenue Service Commission Doug Shulman saying that new interim about how taxpayers must apply for Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers for 2011 returns are burdensome and may prevent some taxpayers from getting the documentation they need to qualify for an ITIN.

The experience for new employees at the Internal Revenue Service is not always positive, even though the IRS has taken steps to improve the onboarding process, according to a new report.

The IRS has completed its six-city swing through America, with forums staged in Orlando, Atlanta, San Diego, Las Vegas, Chicago and New York.

The owner of a Long Island tax preparation service was sentenced to serve one year and one day of imprisonment for preparing false federal tax returns for her clients.

The American Institute of CPAs has written to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman outlining its concerns with what it sees as a “widespread problem affecting numerous taxpayers”: erroneous letters from the IRS to taxpayers filing foreign trust forms.

The Internal Revenue Service has stepped up its efforts to investigate possible misconduct in the municipal bond sector, more than doubling the number of examinations it conducts per year.

The Senate Finance Committee has released the legislative text of the tax extenders bill, spelling out the reasons for extending certain tax breaks or for letting them expire, along with dissenting views from a trio of senators.

Republicans are pitching their tax overhaul plan on the appeal of lower rates and a simpler system—and figuring that voters won’t mind the lack of details about the potential pain.

The Internal Revenue Service reminded truckers and other owners of heavy highway vehicles on Tuesday that their next federal highway use tax return is due in most cases this coming Friday, Aug. 31, 2012.