Tax

In a new report to Congress, the Government Accountability Office takes a hard look at how the Internal Revenue Services manages its paperwork and customer service.

In a 25-page response NCAA president Myles Brand made an adamant case for his association’s tax-exempt status, following questions raised by the outgoing chairman of the House’s Committee on Ways and Means.Brand cited new NCAA penalties for poor team-wide academic performance and rising player graduation rates as evidence of the association's attention to education, adding that school spending on athletics -- including hikes in coaches' salaries -- are driven by a media and consumer market beyond the association’s control.

An average refund of $963 is waiting for 95,746 taxpayers whose refund checks have been returned to the Internal Revenue Service as undeliverable.

New guidance from the Internal Revenue Service stresses the need for employers to track the amount of expense reimbursement allowances paid to employees on a per diem basis.

Intuit Inc. has rolled out a new product, Source Doc Auto-Entry, which allows accountants to scan and import client data from common tax documents and import that data directly into the company’s Lacerte and ProSeries software.The solution is designed to work with most Twain-compliant scanners (a category most newer scanners fall into) and will allow tax preparers to digitally scan several client documents simultaneously, including such forms as W-2s, 1099-INTs and 1099-DIVs.

The U.S. Tax Court has again rejected a taxpayer’s attempt to pin the blame for their negligent tax return on tax preparation software.On Nov. 9, the court handed down an opinion finding against a petition filed in New Jersey by Henry R. Broderick.

A partnership between Wolters Kluwer business CCH and consulting firm National Tax Credit Group LLC will allow the companies to offer online delivery of federal and state location-based incentive information.

Democratic leaders are already making promises that the future of the alternative minimum tax will be the focus of the debate over next year's budget, according to published reports.

The Internal Revenue Service announced increases in user fees for installment agreements.The increases -- the first since the fees were implemented in 1995 -- result from increases in labor and other costs of processing the various applications.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson announced the of two new deputy commissioners, in personnel moves effective Dec. 1.Kevin Brown, currently the commissioner of the IRS Small Business and Self-Employed Division, will become deputy commissioner for Services and Enforcement, responsible for overseeing the agency’s four operating divisions, Criminal Investigation and the Office of Professional Responsibility.