Tax Strategies

The Senate Finance Committee heard testimony about U.S. tax policy at a hearing on tax fundamentals in advance of reform efforts that Congress plans to undertake.

The IRS Oversight Board encouraged the Internal Revenue Service to strive for not just "good," but "great" performance, in its 2007 annual report.

Following the release of tax returns by the Clintons and the Obamas, the president and vice president have released copies of their returns.

An Oregon federal court has permanently barred John Fitzgerald of Portland and his three daughters - Marilyn Dial, Martha Farr Sharp and Karen Gray - from marketing a tax fraud scheme involving sham nonprofit corporations that customers used to evade federal taxes, the Justice Department said.

The Internal Revenue Service said it would soon issue guidance to help businesses determine how to use the special 50 percent bonus depreciation allowance included with the recent economic stimulus legislation.

An increasing number of taxpayers filed or intended to file their tax returns online this tax season, according to recent data supplied by both the Internal Revenue Service and global researcher The Conference Board.As of early March, IRS statistics showed that the 2008 e-filing level was up 5 percent over the same period last year. And in a survey undertaken just prior to tax season, The Conference Board found that 40 percent of taxpayers planned to file online, up from 34 percent three years ago. More than two thirds of consumers said that they have filed online for three years or more, up from less than 55 percent in 2005.

IRS REHIRES PRIVATE COLLECTORSWashington, D.C. — The Internal Revenue Service has decided to renew the contracts of two companies involved in its controversial private debt collection program.

The Senate has overwhelmingly passed a housing relief bill that includes a $7,000 tax credit for purchasers of foreclosed homes in addition to $4 billion in grants for local communities to buy and repair foreclosed properties.

Steinway Replaces Deloitte with UHY

Racing to find political common ground on estate tax policy before the Bush administration tax cuts expire, congressional leaders are urging Republicans and Democrats to “think outside the box” when considering reforms.Among the alternatives placed on the table for discussion during recent Senate Finance Committee hearings: proposals to tax the beneficiaries of inheritances, rather than estates, as well as options under which estate taxes would be levied based on the heir’s “access to sophisticated tax advice.”