Tax practice

Lacking Congress’ ability to address problems with deficit spending, financially squeezed state legislatures across the country are considering desperate tax increases that would have been politically unthinkable just a few years ago.

H&R Block blamed the recession for a drop-off in tax filings so far this season.

The Senate approved a job creation bill Wednesday after 13 Republicans agreed to vote for the measure, which includes tax breaks for businesses that hire or retain employees.

The Senate voted to consider a $15 billion job creation bill after five Republican senators agreed to overcome a filibuster on the measure, which would provide tax breaks to companies that hire and retain employees.

One of the daughters of the pilot who crashed his plane into an IRS facility in Austin, Texas, killing an IRS employee and injuring 12 others, said she hoped his actions would send a message to the government.

The White House has published the health care reform package that President Obama plans to present to Republican and Democratic congressional leaders at the summit on Thursday.

New York State’s budget deficit and dysfunctional legislative process may prompt the government to withhold state income tax refunds, according to embattled Governor David Paterson.

The Treasury Department announced plans to extend and expand the New Markets Tax Credit with a proposal in the fiscal year 2011 budget to provide $5 billion in credits to speed recovery in hard-hit communities.

The Internal Revenue Service reminded taxpayers that the Feb. 28 deadline is fast approaching for Haiti earthquake relief donations that can be deducted this tax season.

Former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who led the police department during the 9/11 attack, was sentenced to a four-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to tax fraud and other charges.

A man angry with the Internal Revenue Service flew a small airplane into a building on Thursday morning in Austin, Texas, in which several IRS offices are located, killing an IRS employee and himself.

Taxpayers overwhelmingly agree with the Internal Revenue Service’s plans to require tax preparers to meet competency and ethical standards, according to a new report by the IRS Oversight Board.

A Virginia doctor has pleaded guilty to conspiracy involving an undeclared Swiss bank account reportedly at HSBC, indicating that investigators are widening their probe of secret Swiss bank accounts beyond UBS.

U.S. taxation of international operations was named as the top business tax concern in 2010, according to a poll of senior tax executives at multinational companies and trade associations.

As part of the IRS's continuing efforts to require greater disclosure of tax positions and strategies on returns, it recently released new, mandatory disclosure rules for grouping passive activities. Rev. Proc. 2010-13 for the first time mandates that passive-activity groupings and regrouping, as required under Code Sec. 469 regulations, be disclosed on the taxpayer's return.

IRS LOOSENS RULES ON USE OF TAXPAYER INFO

Preparing for your first tax season can be a challenging task. While most have the technical knowledge to do the work, they often lack the confidence that experience provides. To help those facing their first tax season, I sat down with Erich Holmes, senior accountant in the Tax Services Department at Rea & Associates in Medina, Ohio. Erich has four years of experience in public accounting and he focuses on providing income tax services for individuals, partnerships and corporations.

The California Society of CPAs has signed on as one of the sponsors of a statewide media campaign that aims to raise awareness of the opportunity for California taxpayers to make a charitable gift while completing their state tax returns.

The Internal Revenue Service needed to scramble to implement various provisions of last year’s Recovery Act to boost the economy as quickly as possible, but it now has to improve its enforcement and reporting to safeguard against abuses, according to a government report.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, has introduced a bill that would tax more Wall Street bonuses than similar legislation introduced a week ago.