Tax practice

An overwhelming majority of senior financial executives say their tax department’s top priority is not tax savings or their effective rate, but timely and accurate tax return and financial reporting, according to a new survey of CFOs and senior comptrollers by Grant Thornton LLP.

CCH has undertaken a nationwide research project on the sales and use tax treatment of drop shipment transactions, and used the information to update its tax research.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun mailing out questionnaires to 401(k) plan sponsors to assess compliance with retirement plan regulations.

IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman defended the increased amount of information reporting that the agency will be expecting from businesses in the next few years.

A top Internal Revenue Service official outlined the agency’s plans for tax preparer registration and testing at the National Society of Accountants’ board of directors meeting.

A Florida prison inmate who allegedly ran a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service of approximately $115,000 in tax refunds has pleaded guilty.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said he anticipates an exemption for small and midsized public companies from Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404(b) requirements for independent audits of their internal controls to remain in the final version of the financial regulatory reform bill.

The health care reform bill included a provision for extra information reporting that could mean many businesses will need to file hundreds more 1099 types of forms to help the government close the tax gap.

Extending the 2001 and 2003 federal income tax cuts would sharply increase the national debt, even if the extensions were limited to individuals earning below $200,000, according to a new report by the Pew Economic Policy Group.

The Supreme Court declined to hear Textron’s appeal in a key tax case, letting stand a lower court decision that allows the Internal Revenue Service to demand legal and tax work papers from companies.

The bipartisan leaders of the Senate Finance Committee have introduced legislation to create job opportunities for veterans returning home from war by providing tax credits for businesses that hire them.

The Internal Revenue Service has left the 2011 inflation-adjusted amounts for health savings accounts unchanged from 2010, citing the Consumer Price Index.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to screen and monitor electronic filing providers more carefully, according to a new government report.

Codification of the economic substance doctrine by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 has produced a palpable level of anxiety among many tax practitioners over how the new law will be applied to a variety of tax strategies.

TREASURY REQUIRES MORE ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS

Accountants are squarely on the front line of the problems with the 2010 estate tax hiatus, according to practitioners and estate-planning attorneys.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., plans to convene a hearing to consider White House proposals for reducing waste and overpayments in the unemployment insurance program.

The Treasury Department released new guidelines for applying for tax credits to fund promising new therapies, with small medical research firms eligible to receive up to $5 million each out of a $1 billion pie.

Tax Credit Company president Brandon Edwards calls the HIRE Act a “game changer” for mid-market and smaller companies that now can take advantage of the hiring incentive program.

The Senate voted last week to approve a historic financial regulatory reform bill that would make sweeping changes in how the financial system is regulated.