Year-end tax planning opportunities abound this year. They do so not only because it has been a particularly active year for tax legislation, but also because of other significant tax developments taking place in 2006, as well as changes from pre-2006 tax legislation that have a particular impact this year and next.Traditional year-end tax strategies should not be abandoned. Income should either be accelerated or postponed between 2006 and 2007, depending upon the anticipated tax brackets for each client. Similarly, deductions and credits should be manipulated to lower income either in the more favorable year or, in some cases, in both years, before midnight, Dec. 31, 2006, has come and gone.

The Tax Foundation has released the 2007 edition of its guide comparing the business tax climate between states.

A Los Angeles nurse has agreed to pay $33.8 million to settle federal charges that she defrauded Medicare and filed false tax returns to conceal her proceeds, federal prosecutors announced.Lourdes Perez, 53, pleaded guilty to the fraud charges in October 2004 as part of a deal. Perez owned two of California's largest home healthcare companies -- Provident Home Health Care Services Inc. in Eagle Rock and Tri-Regional Home Health Care Inc. in San Dimas -- which collectively billed Medicare about $80 million annually.

By 2009, the market for legal, tax and regulatory information will grow to $18.3 billion, according to Outsell Inc.

Congress left town without passing a number of tax breaks that expired at the end of 2005 -- among them the option to deduct state and local sales taxes in place of state income tax, a deduction for college tuition and fees, the deduction for school teachers, and a research and development credit for business.Although the breaks themselves are not controversial, and leaders of the Senate Finance Committee pushed for their enactment before Congress adjourned, the breaks became mired in political infighting when they were attached to “trifecta” legislation that would have included an increase for the minimum wage and a slash in estate tax rates.

The Tax Foundation has cross-tabulated state demographics with tax data from the Internal Revenue Service to take a look at which states benefited the most from the tax cuts enacted under the Bush administration in 2001 and 2003.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service announced in a notice that individuals who work outside the United States and live in foreign countries with high housing costs will be able to deduct, or exclude, a greater portion of their housing costs.U.S. citizens and residents are generally subject to U.S. taxes on their worldwide income, and under the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, several changes were made to the Tax Code, one of which limited the amount of housing costs that could be deducted -- setting a cap of $11,536.