Tax

A retail trade group almost tripled its federal lobbying spending during the second quarter of 2017 as it tried to kill a centerpiece of House Speaker Paul Ryan’s tax plan—the border-adjusted levy on imports.

The party has lurched in recent days between giving up on repealing Obamacare and restarting talks over a new Trump administration proposal.

Mobile no more; Nigerian citizen pleads guilty in $12-million fraud; Ontario man pleads in phony-refund scam; and other highlights of recent tax cases.

The Internal Revenue Service didn’t properly implement some provisions of the PATH Act aimed at reducing improper payments for refundable tax credits, instead allowing an estimated $152 million in credits, according to a new report.

The Senate bill reduces the deficit by $420 billion, the CBO said, compared with the $321 billion in deficit reduction in an earlier version, giving Republican leaders additional money they can use to court holdout votes. Much of the increased funding comes from a decision to no longer cut taxes on the wealthy.

A former Credit Suisse Group AG banker who pleaded guilty to conspiring to help Americans hide income and assets from the Internal Revenue Service is cooperating with U.S. prosecutors in a bid for the sort of leniency her former colleagues received.

Retailers are hoping to entice back-to-school shoppers this summer.