Tax

FINANCE COMMITTEE TAKES AIM AT AMT: A bipartisan coalition of members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, including chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa; ranking member Max Baucus, D-Mont.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., have introduced legislation to repeal the alternative minimum tax.The Individual Alternative Minimum Tax Repeal Act of 2005 would amend the Internal Revenue Code to end the AMT beginning in the 2006 tax year.

Since its first meeting in February, the president's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform has heard testimony and statements from more than 80 witnesses, and examined everything from the philosophical underpinnings and history of our current tax system, to the economic impact of potential tax systems.

In a victory for accounting firm BDO Seidman, a federal appeals court judge reversed a district court decision and ruled this week that a group of investors can't sue BDO Seidman over the sale of an illegal tax shelter, and instead must arbitrate their claim.

The President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform will get an additional two months to complete its work.

The Senate Finance Committee has marked up the Energy Policy Tax Incentives Act of 2005, the title of the energy policy bill now before the full Senate.

CCH Tax and Accounting has added two major new stand-alone libraries in the Miller accounting and auditing series to its Accounting Research Manager.

Big Four firm KPMG LLP, which is in talks with the Justice Department related to the agency's ongoing tax shelter probe, said that it takes "full responsibility" for the past unlawful conduct by some its former partners.

The 2005 filing season was a good one for the Internal Revenue Service, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

The IRS Oversight Board at its recent meeting raised concerns over the agency's plan to close some of its Taxpayer Assistance Centers this fall.

A California start-up is entering the online tax prep software fray with the launch of a new Web-based software package aimed at accounting firms with up to 15 practitioners.