Tax

Banking giant HSBC USA has said it would sell its Wealth and Tax Advisory Services USA business to some of its managing directors for up to $65.9 million as part of a management buyout.

The Treasury Department said a new income tax treaty and protocol with Belgium has gone into effect, along with three protocols amending existing tax treaties with Germany, Denmark and Finland.

The president of a company that hosted tax forums for the Internal Revenue Service has been sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding the IRS of more than $1 million.

The American Institute of CPAs has written to the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department requesting them to revise their proposed regulations on foreign tax credits.

The IRS often takes a beating in the reports from the Treasury Department’s inspector general, and two of the latest pointed to problems with security at the IRS and how the agency is spending money on security projects.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have implemented enhanced standards of conduct for tax preparers.

Accounting firm Weaver and Tidwell said it planned to merge with Patterson, Newman & Associates on Jan. 1, allowing Weaver and Tidwell to expand its energy practice.

Snodgrass, Dunlap and Co. plans to merge its office in Iola, Kan., with Jarred, Gilmore & Philips, an accounting firm based in Chanute, Kan., on the first of the year.

Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co. said it is merging in Daniel Ryan & Co. on Jan. 1, adding between 10 and 16 professionals to its staff and giving KLR more expertise in tax planning.

The Internal Revenue Service said the upcoming tax-filing season would start on time in mid-January, except for up to 13.5 million taxpayers who will have to wait until Feb. 11 if they need to file any of five forms affected by the late enactment of a patch for the alternative minimum tax.