Tax
Tax News & IRS Insights for Accounting Professionals
Accounting Today delivers news and analysis for accounting and tax professionals on federal and state tax developments, IRS guidance,information reporting, and operational implications for practices and clients. Our coverage focuses on legislative and procedural shifts that tax practitioners must monitor in planning, compliance, and advisory contexts.
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The Internal Revenue Service intends to improve international tax administration in an effort to reduce the tax gap.
October 25 -
Employers are able to exclude the value of an employee's use of an employer-provided cell phone from the employee's gross income if the employee keeps careful records distinguishing business and personal calls, according to a recently released letter from an Internal Revenue Service official.
October 24 -
After repeated pleas from tax practitioners, lawyers and others, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service announced that they would extend the final deadline for compliance with new rules on nonqualified deferred-compensation plans for a year, until Dec. 31, 2008.The regulations, which provide guidance under Section 409A regarding the requirements for deferral elections and payment timing in deferred-comp plans, were in response to legislation enacted in 2004. Section 409A has been effective since Jan. 1, 2005, but the IRS did not release the final regulations until April of this year, with an original deadline of Dec. 31, 2007, which many felt was far too early, given the complexity of the plans and the amendments that companies may have to make to them.Over the summer, a number of practitioner groups, including a group of 92 separate law firms, contacted the Treasury and the IRS to press the case for more time.The IRS noted that it plans to follow up Notice 2007-86, which extends the deadline, with guidance regarding a correction program as soon as possible.
October 23 -
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Congress should stop dithering on passing a fix for the Alternative Minimum Tax.
October 23 -
Intuit said it plans to avoid the electronic filing delays that kept many last-minute tax returns from being processed last April.
October 21 -
The Internal Revenue Service reiterated its demand for casinos and other poker tournament sponsors to begin reporting winnings of more than $5,000 after March 4, 2008.
October 21 -
As tax prep suites have evolved to meet the needs of the particular market segment targeted by each product, practitioners now have a variety of products from which to choose - each of which will do the job."The desktop market is becoming extremely competitive, with each producer giving as much new functionality and offering it as cheaply as they can," said John Vora, chief executive of Parsippany, N.J.-based TaxSimple.
October 21