Tax Strategies

A new report on President-elect Barack Obama's tax policies sees his mantle of change perhaps leading him to change some of his tax proposals as he works with Congress next year.

An IRS revenue agent was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after he was indicted a few days earlier by a grand jury on charges of tax fraud and obstructing an investigation into his tax return.

An Internal Revenue Service advisory group has released a report detailing a wide-ranging set of 70 recommendations, including new requirements for tax preparers.

President-elect Barack Obama plans to shift tax incentives to encourage more use of renewable energy sources, according to one tax expert.

Accounting firm I.A. Rozen & Associates is searching for the "The Last Baby Born in 2008" as a way to call attention to year-end tax deductions for families.

State and local governments could take advantage of the interactive data-tagging technology that the Securities and Exchange Commission plans to require public companies to begin using for their financial filings.

With tax season coming up, the IRS is reaching out to tax-exempt organizations and preparers to spread the word about the revised Form 990 and the extra information it will require.

The past year has seen an unprecedented amount of new tax legislation and regulations affecting business taxpayers.

Prosecutors have indicted John B. Ohle III, a former member of a bank's tax shelter promotion group, on charges of conspiring with lawyers at the law firm of Jenkens & Gilchrist and others to defraud the U.S. Treasury of an estimated $100 million in the sale of a tax shelter known as "HOMER."

"There have been nine pieces of tax legislation passed this year," he noted. "The primary responsibility for accountants is to adequately and accurately reflect things that happen to the taxpayer in a way that gives the taxpayer the greatest benefit allowed by the legal system. Tax planning helps the preparer to meet this responsibility."