Tax Strategies

Intuit said its Lacerte and ProSeries professional tax prep products would flag any returns that cannot be filed until mid-February because of the delayed patch for the alternative minimum tax.

President Bush is reportedly mulling an economic stimulus package that could include further tax cuts this year.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have released final regulations and a revenue procedure requiring tax preparers to obtain consent before they can distribute taxpayer information to third parties, along with a proposal to restrict the marketing of refund anticipation loans and similar products.

The Internal Revenue Service kicked off tax season this week, saying it plans to mail 16.5 million tax packages to taxpayers this month who have filed paper returns in the past, but the packages won't include any tax credit forms because of delays in patching the alternative minimum tax.

Banking giant HSBC USA has said it would sell its Wealth and Tax Advisory Services USA business to some of its managing directors for up to $65.9 million as part of a management buyout.

The Treasury Department said a new income tax treaty and protocol with Belgium has gone into effect, along with three protocols amending existing tax treaties with Germany, Denmark and Finland.

The president of a company that hosted tax forums for the Internal Revenue Service has been sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding the IRS of more than $1 million.

The American Institute of CPAs has written to the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department requesting them to revise their proposed regulations on foreign tax credits.

The IRS often takes a beating in the reports from the Treasury Department’s inspector general, and two of the latest pointed to problems with security at the IRS and how the agency is spending money on security projects.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have implemented enhanced standards of conduct for tax preparers.