Tax

With tax season in full swing, it’s a good reminder that families with household employees have some impending deadlines. As most tax professionals are aware, the often overlooked household employment taxes – or “nanny taxes” – present a unique set of challenges.

The Internal Revenue Service’s new commissioner John Koskinen has released a message to taxpayers for this tax season, urging them to use the agency’s Web site and warning of long wait times on the phone.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the IRS had no legal authority to impose a nationwide licensing scheme on tax return preparers that would have required testing and continuing education as Registered Tax Return Preparers.

Harvard University pledged to ensure restitution for as many as 11,000 employees after two of its faculty pointed out the impact of a tax error by the school.

The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters has compiled its annual sampling of quirky sales tax changes passed or implemented in 2013.

The Internal Revenue Service is warning taxpayers to be sure to notify the Social Security Administration before they file their taxes if they have changed their own name or the name of one of their dependents has changed. Otherwise their tax refund could be delayed.

Check out the digital edition of the February 2014 issue of Accounting Today.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., was confirmed Thursday as U.S. Ambassador to China, which could prolong an investigation of the Internal Revenue Service’s handling of tax-exempt applications, along with tax reform efforts.

Businesses often take a risk in the development of new products and processes.

Refundo, a provider of low-cost tax-related bank products, has partnered with online- and app-payment provider Stripe to allow tax offices to accept credit card payments through Refundo’s online platform.