Tax

CCH has upgraded its IntelliConnect online tax and accounting research service with improvements in its user interface, search features and research tools.

Preparer Tax Identification Numbers, e-file mandates, and pending tax legislation are weighing heavily on tax preparers' minds as they take a breath just prior to the start of filing season.

Only a handful of days remain to execute year-end tax strategies. Some techniques for this year reprise traditional advice that has legs year after year, while others, including reaction to whatever this year's lame-duck Congress has wrought, have a unique sense of urgency.

While lawmakers have pledged to patch the Alternative Minimum Tax this year, there remains plenty of uncertainty in the current tax landscape.

Proprietary tax research platforms continue to grow despite the availability of free searches and materials over the Internet, with all the major publishers of Internet-based research reporting growth.

Former President Bill Clinton stood alongside President Barack Obama at a news conference and endorsed Obama’s deal with congressional Republicans to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has introduced a bill to extend the Bush tax cuts and unemployment benefits.

House Democrats met Thursday and overwhelmingly voted to block the Bush tax cut extension compromise announced earlier in the week by President Obama and Republican congressional leaders.

President Obama’s announcement on Monday of a compromise agreement with the Republican leadership should bring some end-of-year certainty to the tax landscape, but questions remain.

Edward S. Karl, vice president of taxation for the American Institute of CPAs, will host the U.S. Small Business Administration’s year-end tax-planning Web chat on Thursday.