Tax

Reports are that lobbyists for Accenture Ltd. will be successful in convincing congressional tax writers to make small changes in a technical corrections bill that would that ensure the consulting group is grandfathered in under a corporate tax bill originally passed in 2004.

The White House midyear budget says that an increase in tax revenues, mostly coming from relatively wealthy taxpayers, along with a good stock market performance, will drop the deficit to $333 billion this year.

Corporate officers or authorized agents can now sign employment tax forms by facsimile, including alternative signature methods such as computer software programs or mechanical devices.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board published a draft of a proposed interpretation, "Accounting for Uncertain Tax Positions," yesterday. The draft seeks to reduce the diversity in practices associated with recognition and measurement in the accounting for income taxes.

Avalara, a provider of Web-based sales tax solutions for the small and midsized business market, and Taxware, a provider of global transaction tax calculation and compliance software, have entered into a strategic partnership.

Fixing the controversial alternative minimum tax has been termed a priority for the President Bush's Tax Reform Panel, according to a key White House advisor.

The popularity of donating used cars to charity has increased in recent years, to the point of creating a subculture of companies that do nothing but collect and distribute old cars. Billboards, radio ads, flyers in the mail - they all attempt to encourage people to donate vehicles to charitable organizations in return for hefty tax deductions.

An initiative to breath life into the harmonization of corporate taxation rules across the European Union - which got a nudge from the European finance ministers' meeting in September - is now rumbling its way through the Brussels-based EU institutions.

* IRS CONTINUES CRACKDOWN ON FRIVOLOUS CASES: The Internal Revenue Service is reminding taxpayers that the agency isn't kidding around when it comes to frivolous cases aimed at delaying tax collections.

The decline in ethics that took place over the 1990s hurt not only the taxpayers who took positions they shouldn't have taken, but it also hurt responsible tax practitioners, who saw their business taken away by the more aggressive practices, according to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark W. Everson.