Tax

Europe’s drive to rescue Cyprus risks undermining a region-wide deposit guarantee plan, a key tenet in the battle to contain the debt crisis, and casts doubt on the ability of the weakest lenders to retain deposits.

The Internal Revenue Service is reminding tax professionals that they must implement safeguards to protect taxpayer data.

While the Internal Revenue Service has made progressing in addressing weaknesses in its information security controls and improving its internal control over financial reporting, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report that serious weaknesses remain that could affect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of financial and sensitive taxpayer data.

New York City officials are urging low-income and middle-class taxpayers to file their tax returns for free or low cost to claim their tax credits with one month to go in tax season, while cracking down on tax preparers.

The Tax Policy Center estimated Friday that the tax provisions of the budget plan introduced this week by House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would reduce tax revenues by $5.7 trillion over a 10-year period, requiring a corresponding amount of tax increases and/or spending cuts to keep it “revenue neutral,” or risk a substantial expansion of the budget deficit.

A coalition of charities has expressed concerns about a Senate budget proposal that could potentially place a limit on charitable deductions.

Sales tax and compliance automation service provider Avalara has introduced AvaTax Consumer Use, its automated consumer use tax offering ,which will be integrated with most billing, financial and ERP systems – the first of which will be Microsoft Dynamics ERP products.

More than four out of 10 working Americans will have had an accountant prepare their taxes this year, primarily because they believe that that's the way to get the largest refund. More than half won't do their own taxes, instead going to an accountant, friend or family member.

The Internal Revenue Service has filed a sharply worded reply with a federal appeals court to a group of tax preparers who won rulings from a lower court striking down the IRS’s authority to regulate the tax preparation profession.

The IRS claims that refunds totaling just over $917 million may be waiting for an estimated 984,400 taxpayers who did not file a federal income tax return for 2009. The IRS estimates that half the potential refunds for 2009 exceed $500.