Taxpayers will be able to apply for a refund of the federal excise tax on long-distance telephone service for the past three years.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced two initiatives aimed at simplifying the way small businesses, individual taxpayers and tax preparers file and pay their federal taxes.

We are all creatures of habit, comfortable doing things the way we always have. It worked before so it must be the best way. That may be true, but if you explore a little you might find another way of doing things. If it tests successfully, then you will at least have an alternative, and maybe even a better and more efficient way. Let's look at three examples with regard to attracting new clients.

After three years bouncing between British courts, tennis player Andre Agassi lost a $52,000 tax dispute that will require other sports and entertainments stars from paying U.K. income tax on endorsement deals.

While the extension of the reduced rates on capital gains and dividends, alternative minimum tax relief, and the continuation of enhanced Section 179 expensing have received the most publicity, there are a host of other changes in the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005.

In a political victory for Republicans, President Bush signed the sixth tax cut in the past six years yesterday, in a Rose Garden ceremony.

Hispanics are less likely than non-Hispanics to say that they owe money to the Internal Revenue Service for 2005 (14 percent versus 22 percent) and they are more likely than non-Hispanics to report having received a refund for 2004 (73 percent versus 62 percent), according to poll results released by Hispanic market research firm Encuesta Inc.