Tax

The bank that Jackson Hewitt Tax Service uses to process and administer its refund anticipation loans will not be in a position to originate RALs for the 2010 tax season, according to the company.

H&R Block will be among the tax preparation businesses that will be taking advantage of a new IRS initiative aimed at helping taxpayers build their nest eggs by allocating a portion of their tax refund toward the purchase of U.S. savings bonds.

Accounting firm Eisner LLP has introduced its 2010 Personal Tax Guide, which is available on the firm’s Web site and as a download to the Amazon Kindle e-reader.

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee said they intend to work on passing legislation to extend expiring tax breaks early next year.

The Senate’s brand-new 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services is bound to lead to some further creative thinking about how to generate extra revenue to cover the costs of health care reform.

For at least the first few days of 2010, and probably longer, executors of the estates of people dying after Dec. 31, 2009, will be operating in a difficult environment after the Senate’s failure to extend the estate tax at its current rates.

Payroll services provider Paychex has published four online tax resources for CPAs and small businesses free of charge on its Web site.

CCH has released the latest version of its online consumer tax preparation software, CompleteTax.

The Senate overcame a key procedural hurdle early Monday morning on the arduous journey to approving health care reform legislation with a 1:00 am vote approving an amendment by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that made changes to secure the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster.

The House narrowly passed a jobs bill aimed at reducing unemployment, but the legislation’s prospects are uncertain in the Senate.