Tax planning

Two recent reports suggest that the movement to register tax return preparers will continue.

Getting a handle on 2008 year-end tax planning is especially challenging this year because of several areas of uncertainty.

The Internal Revenue Service said personal exemptions and standard deductions would rise in 2009 to keep pace with inflation, providing more than three dozen tax benefits.

Two of the Internal Revenue Service's newest modernized computer systems were deployed with known security vulnerabilities that could expose confidential taxpayer information, according to a new report from the Treasury Department's inspector general.

The Internal Revenue Service announced cost-of-living adjustments on the dollar limitations for pension plans and other items in tax year 2009, even as Social Security benefits are expected to rise next year.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is considering delaying implementation of its controversial standard on accounting for uncertainty in income taxes for private entitiies.

Former Abba band member Bjorn Ulvaeus has won a legal case against the Swedish tax authorities that will return to him the equivalent of $11.5 million in taxes that he has already paid.

The tax shelter trial of three former KPMG executives and an outside attorney began in a New York courtroom Wednesday, but with most of the original defendants no longer present.

Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his rival Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., have proposed differing tax and retirement plan measures to deal with the economic downturn.

The Internal Revenue Service has recently added a page to its Web site for the self-employed. I sure could’ve used that when I was a freelance writer, even though there was no Internet then.

The Internal Revenue Service has explained how eligible homeowners who received federal reimbursement grants stemming from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita or Wilma can take advantage of a new tax provision.

The Tax Court has amended its rules of rules of practice and procedure for whistleblower actions, making it easier for informants to keep their identities confidential.

The Internal Revenue Service issued a last-chance warning that only a few days remain until the Oct. 15 deadline for retirees and disabled veterans to file an income tax return that will allow them to receive an economic stimulus payment this year.

After a two-year battle, the Internal Revenue Service has released thousands of pages of agency statistics to the Syracuse University-based Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

A new audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has found security weaknesses on each of the three computer systems it reviewed in the Office of Research, Analysis and Statistics.

The Internal Revenue Service issued a notice late last week that allows U.S. corporations to get more tax-free loans from their foreign subsidiaries.

Representatives of the McCain and Obama camps sparred politely at a Presidential Tax Forum sponsored by the New York State Society of CPAs.

The financial rescue plan approved by Congress last week included many extensions of expiring tax credits and deductions that helped it win passage in the House, but it also left out some tax issues that will surely be bones of contention for the next Congress.

The Internal Revenue Service issued a notice aimed at calming fears that it would act against insurance-dedicated money market funds that take advantage of a new temporary guarantee program.

Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin has released her 2006 and 2007 tax returns.