Tax practice

The two top Sprint Corp. executives who were caught up in a tax-shelter scandal in 2003 now blame the Internal Revenue Service for losing their jobs.

Some of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

Last week the Tax Court, in a case of first impression, ruled that payments made by a decedent through a trust to pay premiums on life insurance policies obtained to fund buy-sell agreements should not be regarded as loans still owed to her estate.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration issued an alert Friday warning that it has received information that callers impersonating IRS employees or the Treasury Department are demanding payments on iTunes Gift Cards.

As a general rule, the cost of commercial real estate improvements is recovered over a painfully long period of 39 years via straight-line depreciation only.

Could those Form 4868 extensions that you’re filing for your clients turn tax procrastinators into prey?

The Tax Foundation has released a report on proposals to integrate the corporate and individual income tax codes and how they might work in the context of congressional tax reform.

Liberty Tax Service has developed an executive task force to examine issues within the company “and take aggressive action” to ensure all franchisees meet the tax prep giant’s standards.

The House passed a bill Thursday prohibiting bonuses for IRS employees until the Treasury develops a better customer service strategy, the last of six bills passed this week affecting IRS bonuses, hiring practices and policies.

The Internal Revenue Service’s expanded use of controls this tax season to identify fraudulent refund claims before accepting them into its processing system has allowed the IRS to identify approximately 35,000 fraudulent e-filed tax returns and 741 paper tax returns as of Feb. 29, 2016, according to a new government report.

A senior Treasury Department official in charge of international tax policy is seeing a greater role being played by the Group of 20 finance ministers in setting the agenda for tax laws around the world.

The Senate Finance Committee passed legislation Wednesday to protect taxpayers from identity theft and tax fraud, but without a provision for regulating tax preparers.

Payroll tax credits, workforce training grants, infrastructure grants, property tax abatements and tax increment financing are just a few of the tools that state and local economic development groups have at their disposal to entice businesses to expand and invest in their communities.

You survived another tax season. After three months at the grind, here’s how your peers are lurching toward May.

The U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed Nevada’s exercise of jurisdiction over the California Franchise Tax Board, but limited the damages that could be awarded to the amount which Nevada law would permit in a similar suit against its own agencies.

Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., the ranking member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, and other House Democrats introduced legislation Wednesday to restore the estate tax and gift tax rate and exemption level to the same amounts as in 2009.

Uh-oh. You messed something up on your tax return. What now?

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

The House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee held a hearing Tuesday on the 2016 filing season and the Internal Revenue Service’s cybersecurity efforts.

When it comes to driving the U.S. economy, small businesses translate into big dollars.