Tax season

The National Conference of CPA Practitioners is warning that the complexities of the Affordable Care Act may negatively affect millions of taxpayers in the upcoming tax season.

The Internal Revenue Service is not providing personal identity numbers to all taxpayers who are the victims of tax-related identity theft, according to a new government report.

Intuit has enhanced its program for tax professionals, adding new benefits and opening it to enrolled agents.

The Internal Revenue Service should improve the way it performs final testing of its computer systems prior to tax season to make sure they are working properly, according to a new government report.

The average tax refund in 2014 was $2,696, up 1.5 percent from the average refund of $2,656 in 2013, according to a new report on how well the Internal Revenue Service operated last tax season.

Tax prep and filing vendor TaxACT has released its 2014 federal software for 1040, 1065, 1120S, 1120 and 1041 returns.

Identity theft is a growing and frustrating problem in today’s world.

Internal Revenue Service commissioner John Koskinen has written a letter to the leaders of Congress’s main tax committees urging them to decide soon on what to do about extending dozens of expired tax provisions, or else next tax season and the processing of tax refunds could be delayed.

QuickBooks maker Intuit and American Express now offer eligible preparers the option of putting some clients’ IRS refunds on a new American Express Serve Card, a reloadable prepaid account.

H&R Block is debuting a new program to encourage consumer savings at tax time, working with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the U.S. government agency charged with making financial markets work for American consumers, to encourage consumers to use tax refunds to build savings.

The Internal Revenue Service has strengthened the security of its e-Services registration process for tax professionals and taxpayers as identity theft and data breaches have become a greater concern.

Last tax season evidenced a disturbing development for professional tax preparers, but industry observers are hoping that other factors will mitigate the trend toward do-it-yourself preparation next year.

Affordable Care Act considerations for year-end planning.

The Affordable Care Act and how it will affect the upcoming tax season seems to be clearer, according to Chuck McCabe.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued new draft instructions, notices and a publication to help taxpayers and tax practitioners deal with the Affordable Care Act.

Taxpayers are expected to receive a modest amount of tax relief in 2015, thanks to the annual inflation adjustments provided under the Tax Code.

Bloomberg BNA has given tax practitioners and taxpayers a head start on their 2015 tax year planning, releasing a detailed projection of inflation-adjusted tax items for next year on Wednesday.

The IRS must be one of the most frequently sued agencies in the federal government, and now it’s facing a challenge over whether it has the right to charge tax preparers for the annual cost of a Preparer Tax Identification Number.

Internal Revenue Service commissioner John Koskinen told a congressional subcommittee about the IRS’s progress on the Affordable Care Act and the impact that tax subsidies will have next tax season.

H&R Block president and CEO Bill Cobb is expecting problems next tax season due to the Affordable Care Act, now that the Internal Revenue Service has released some of the draft forms that will be needed, and pointed out that many taxpayers will no longer be able to file a simple Form 1040EZ.