Just staying on top of the 8,000 different state and local tax rates and a thousand changes that are made every year by state legislatures is a huge challenge for small and mid-sized business in normal times.

The National Association of Enrolled Agents and the Latino Tax Professionals Association have formed a partnership to provide increased value to their members and to meet common goals.

The Internal Revenue Service recently issued proposed regulations allowing the IRS to require that tax return preparers use Preparer Tax Identification Numbers as the preparer’s identifying number on all tax returns and tax refund claims that they prepare.

The controversy surrounding the demise of Lehman Bros. spells trouble for the audit profession as it, once again, finds itself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. How was such a large investment bank allowed to collapse?

Two IRS employees in Covington, KY, were charged in a 29-count indictment for stealing thousands of dollars in money orders.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued its 2010 “dirty dozen” list of tax scams, including schemes involving return preparer fraud, hiding income offshore, and phishing.“Taxpayers should be wary of anyone peddling scams that seem too good to be true,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said. “The IRS fights fraud by pursuing taxpayers who hide income abroad and by ensuring taxpayers get competent, ethical service from qualified professionals at home in the U.S.”

On March 2, 2010, President Obama signed the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 (the “TEA”) extending the COBRA premium subsidy eligibility period for an additional month, through March 31, 2010.

Small businesses get a break in the form of an extended moratorium on penalties related to tax shelters. Since last summer the IRS has been extending the moratorium a few months at a time.

Anton R. Valukas, the U.S. bankruptcy court-appointed examiner of failed investment bank Lehman Bros., has found that the company used “materially misleading” accounting to make its balance sheet look stronger than it really was.