Tax

The Internal Revenue Service will offer special relief to taxpayers in the disaster areas struck by Hurricane Katrina.

The 12th meeting of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform will be held on Sept. 15 in Washington.

Minnesota's Department of Revenue will give residents who have used abusive tax shelters until Jan. 31 to amend their tax returns without facing new penalties passed during the 2005 special legislative session.

The 11th meeting of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform will be held on Sept. 8 in Washington.

Specifics of a deal are being hammered out between federal prosecutors and KPMG LLP, and the name of former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Richard Breeden is being floated to serve as in independent monitor of the firm's future activities.

A Council On State Taxation representative told the National Conference of State Legislatures they should expect a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee this fall.

Although other states have reportedly considered the strategy, Mississippi is expected to be the first to file criminal charges against Big Four firm KPMG, in connection with benefit tax work the company performed for WorldCom.

A recent report from Government Accountability Office says that the Internal Revenue Service needs to establish a more "results-oriented approach" to reducing the tax gap -- the difference between taxes owed and taxes paid in the country.

Alvarez & Marsal Tax Advisory Services LLC has added five new managing directors to its team of senior tax professionals.

The IRS hasn't focused on S corporation audits in 21 years, and needs to update its data so that it can tweak its audit machinery to select audits more effectively. Therefore, they plan to select 5,000 S corporations for random audits under the National Research Program.