Tax Strategies

The success of the Internal Revenue Service's e-filing program has led to the elimination of several jobs, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported this week.

Over 90 tax professors have joined the tax sections of the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association in asking a senator to drop his attempt to block the confirmation of Eric Solomon for assistant Treasury secretary for Tax Policy.

A new report from the Treasury provides a detailed analysis of what effects proposals to permanently extend the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 might have on the country's economy.

States and cities could lose billions annually under a congressional bill that would require businesses to have employed at least one employee in a state for 21 days, or have leased or bought property, before having to pay the state's business taxes.

Former California gubernatorial candidate George "Nick" Jesson has pleaded guilty to state tax evasion charges and will begin serving a 27-month term in prison concurrently with his sentence for federal tax evasion charges.

Australia's Tax Office is investigating Paul Hogan, star of the "Crocodile Dundee" films, on suspicion of funneling millions in royalties from his films into illegal tax havens.

Reading about former California gubernatorial candidate George "Nick" Jesson, who recently finished pleading guilty to state and federal tax evasion charges, reminded me of conversation I'd had with a friend a couple of weeks back.

Reality television victor Richard Hatch has been sent to an Oklahoma federal prison to serve a 51-month sentence for failing to pay taxes on the more than $1 million he took away from the first season of CBS's "Survivor."

While most taxpayers and their accountants complain about the increasingly complex Tax Code, some of the nation's biggest corporations welcome complexity as an opportunity to "game the system."At least that's the latest grumbling from Capitol Hill, where members of the Senate Finance Committee are voicing fresh concerns over the widening "corporate tax gap."

Cono R. Namorato was appointed to head the Internal Revenue Service Office of Professional Responsibility in December 2003.The OPR investigates allegations of misconduct or negligence against tax practitioners, and enforces the standards of practice for those who represent taxpayers before the IRS. As director of the OPR, Namorato oversaw the service's increasing efforts to achieve compliance nationwide among tax practitioners with newly enhanced standards of conduct, and he also served as senior advisor to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue on complex enforcement matters.