Tax

In the glut of stories that came out around Tax Day, one in particular stood out.

Like most politicians, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney released the details of their federal income tax returns late last week.

With the slightly later Tax Day now past, the Internal Revenue Service is still accepting extension requests, for a six-month reprieve, through E-file.

The Senate Finance Committee didn't like what it found in investigating ancillary offers often made as part of using the Internal Revenue Service's Free File online tax return preparation services.

A Michigan husband and wife, who've been involved in previous tax protests, could soon face a court order preventing them from promoting what the government says is the No. 1 tax scheme in the country.

The National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina E. Olson, announced that the Internal Revenue Service has awarded $8 million in matching grants to Low Income Taxpayer Clinics.

For filers anticipating this year's tax refund, it naturally comes as a welcome e-mail: "We have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of [X] dollars. To access the form for your tax refund, please click here."Who wouldn't like to get a tax refund? And an e-mail message sporting the official Internal Revenue Service logo is hard to ignore.

Tax prep giant H&R Block Inc. announced that its first-quarter tax preparation and related fees rose 3.7 percent from a year earlier, to a total of $1.98 billion.

A court order will allow the Internal Revenue Service to ask PayPal, a money transfer service owned by eBay Inc., to turn over information on customers who might be evading taxes.

Tax Freedom Day will fall on April 26 this year, according to the Tax Foundation's annual calculation using the latest government data on income and taxes.