Tax

The Internal Revenue Service stepped up its compliance activities last year and saw its revenues jump, according to a new report.

Entertainment and sports accountant Mike Vaden and his Vaden Group have allied with regional accounting and business advisory firm Joseph Decosimo & Co. to form a business management practice aimed at the entertainment industry and high-net-worth individuals.

Accounting firm Plante & Moran said it was seeing optimism among the businesses it surveyed in the Midwest despite general worries about the economy.

President Bush said the Treasury Department would begin distributing the first batch of tax rebates by direct deposit on Monday.

Wesley Snipes was sentenced to the maximum of three years in prison for failing to file his income taxes.

The federal government has lost a Son of Boss tax shelter case involving taxpayers who invested in foreign currency options.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the tax aspects of a cap-and-trade program to control carbon emissions.

An Ohio jury ruled that Fifth Third Bancorp is not entitled to a $5.6 million tax refund for its 1997 tax year after the bank sought to take tax deductions related to complex leasing transactions involving passenger rail cars.

The Internal Revenue Service has withdrawn proposed regulations that would have treated mortgage loans as capital assets and restricted the deductibility of mortgage defaults.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has voted to adopt a new ethics and independence rule concerning communications with audit committees, as well as an amendment to its existing tax services rule.