Tax

After nine years, a federal report says that college tuition tax credits aren't necessarily providing the boon originally intended for poorer families.

By now, readers of this space are well aware of my skepticism about the efficiency of any program that is government-run. No matter how well-intentioned, they never turn out quite the way they're presented to those charged with initial approval.

The New York State Society of Public Accountants, the oldest state accounting association, representing approximately 30,000 CPAs, has offered certain suggestions regarding pending legislation in Congress affecting estate planning-- specifically emphasizing the pressing need for certainty and ease of administration with respect to the transfer tax.

A trio of state accounting boards have objected to the 'jointness' of a joint project from the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the American Institute of CPAs to form a committee to look at the financial accounting and reporting standard-setting process for private companies.

A federal appeals court ruled that the government can't tax cash settlements plaintiffs receive for emotional distress and other "intangible injuries."

The trio of private debt collection agencies the Internal Revenue Service selected for a pilot program will soon be able to come knocking.

A Salt Lake City man was sentenced to 60 months in prison for a tax fraud scheme centered on a fraudulent trust scheme, the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service announced.

Application service provider technology, once described as "the next big thing to still be coming," has turned the corner on acceptance, as its advantages are winning over converts from large firms to smaller tax prep shops.Once offered only by industry giants Wolters Kluwer and Thomson, models from a number of new software providers are either in beta testing or preparing to enter the market.

Accountants and other tax practitioners are facing a minefield of new liability dangers as a result of the actions of tax shelter promoters who patent their tax reduction strategies, legal experts warned Congress.Testifying recently before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson outlined a nightmare scenario for accountants who advise clients on estate and gift tax issues - only to discover that the tried-and-true tax reduction strategy that they recommended has been patented by another practitioner.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., ranking minority member of the Senate Finance Committee, has threatened to hold up President Bush's nominee for the Treasury's top tax position, unless the department agrees to provide a comprehensive plan to close the tax gap by the end of September.Baucus said that neither assistant Treasury secretary nominee Eric Solomon nor new Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had agreed to meet a Sept. 30 deadline for a plan to close the gap - the difference between taxes collected and taxes legally owed. Various estimates have put the hard-to-quantify number at upwards of $300 billion annually.