Tax news

Tax

AICPA 2012 Sidney Kess Award Winner Takes Volunteerism to the Road

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) honored Martin Shenkman, principal at Martin Shenkman P.C., in Paramus, New Jersey, with the 2012 Sidney Kess Award for Excellence in Continuing Education at its Conference on Tax Strategies for the High-Income Individual in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 1, 2012.
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Tax

Federal Court Shuts Down Texas Tax Return Preparer

A federal court in Dallas has permanently barred Joseph Rivas of DeSoto, Texas, from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced May 3.
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A&A

IRS Cannot Extend Three-Year Limitation Due to Overstatement of Basis

In a recent decision that considers the authority of the IRS to issue retroactive regulations, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Home Concrete that the IRS may not apply an extended six-year limitations period in certain tax shelter cases.
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Practice

IRS Raises Limits for HSAs and HDHPs for 2013

In IRS Revenue Procedure 2012-26, the IRS has announced the new inflation-adjusted increases for Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions and high-deductible health plan (HDHP) deductibles. These amounts apply to the 2013 calendar year.
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Tax

Virginia Man Sentenced to Thirty-Six Months in Prison for Tax Evasion

Richard Jaensch, fifty-four, of Annandale, Virginia, was sentenced April 27, 2012, to thirty-six months in prison by US District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, the Justice Department, and the IRS.
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Tax

New York Tax Preparer Sentenced for Tax Fraud

New York Tax Preparer Sentenced for Tax Fraud Howard Levine, owner of a Dix Hill, New York, tax preparation business, was sentenced to thirty-seven months in prison for tax crimes, the Justice Department and IRS announced April 26, 2012. Levine was also ordered to pay $320,998 in restitution to the IRS.
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Tax

IRS Backlog Has Stalled Responses to Offers in Compromise Requests

While the IRS has been successful in promoting a program that allows taxpayers to settle their tax bills for less than the full amount, the large number of applications and the shortage of IRS staff has created a backlog.
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Tax

Massachusetts Man in Prison for Filing False Tax Returns

Kevin P. Mahoney of Massachusetts was sentenced April 24 to sixty months in prison following trial convictions on corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the administration of the Internal Revenue laws, filing false tax returns with the IRS, and criminal contempt of court, the Justice Department and the IRS announced.
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Tax

Insurance Salesman Plead Guilty to Failing to File Income Tax Returns

Thomas Mitchell of Mansfield, Ohio, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge George J. Limbert of the Northern District of Ohio to criminal information charging him with willfully failing to file an income tax return with the IRS, the Justice Department and the IRS announced April 16, 2012.
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Tax

Florida Tax Preparer Pled Guilty to Wire Fraud and Identity Theft

Ernst Pierre, a Port St. Lucie, Florida, tax preparer, pleaded guilty on April 24, 2012, to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, the Justice Department and IRS announced. Pierre was charged with a scheme to file false federal income tax returns using stolen identity information.
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Tax

Return Preparer Charged ‒ Preparing False Tax Returns for Drug Dealers

Rebecca Renae Powell, a resident of Wasilla, Alaska, has been charged with six counts of preparing false income tax returns for several clients whose primary source of income was from the sale of illegal narcotics.
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Tax

Study: Taxpayers Willing to Sacrifice to Reform Social Security

A new study ? "The Effect of Accounting Information on Taxpayers' Acceptance of Tax Reform" ? suggests that if taxpayers had a different understanding of the financial sustainability of Social Security, they might be more willing to make sacrifices to reform the system.
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Tax

IRS Alert: New Correspondence Audit Hotline Now Available

If the IRS is going to audit your client, it will most likely conduct a mail audit. In 2011, the IRS conducted 1.2 million mail audits, representing a 124 percent increase from ten years ago. In fact, the IRS conducts more than three out of four audits by mail.
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Tax

Former Partner at BDO Seidman LLP Sentenced to Prison for Tax Crimes

Stephen A. Favato, a resident of Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, and a former partner in BDO Seidman LLP's Woodbridge, New Jersey, office, was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for tax crimes, the Justice Department and the IRS announced April 16.
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A&A

KPMG Survey: New Excise Tax Will Hit Medical Device Companies Hard

Financial executives in the medical device manufacturing industry predict that a new excise tax and the burden of its related compliance costs will have a negative impact on their company bottom lines, according to a survey conducted by KPMG LLP, the audit, tax, and advisory firm.
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Tax

Study Finds the Odds Favor IRS in Supreme Court Tax Cases

The odds are stacked against corporations whose disputes with the IRS go all the way to the Supreme Court, according to a new study by Joshua Blank, faculty director of the graduate tax program at NYU law school, and Nancy Staudt, a tax scholar at the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law.
2012
Tax

New Case Spotlights 'Hobby Losses' of Filmmaker

Filmmaker Lee Storey, who produced and directed the documentary "Smile 'Til It Hurts: The Up with People Story," has emerged from a protracted battle with the IRS with a giant smile on her face.
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Community News

ASTPS Offers Pro Bono Representation to Returning Combat Veterans

The American Society of Tax Problem Solvers (ASTPS) has launched a program to help returning combat veterans (RCVs) with IRS problems. ASTPS members have volunteered to represent RCVs for no fee as a way of expressing appreciation for their service.
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A&A

TIGTA: IRS Can Take Action to Recognize/Investigate Fraud Indicators

By better ensuring that fraud indicators are recognized and properly investigated during field audits of individual tax returns, the IRS could increase revenue by an estimated $20 million a year, according to a report publicly released today by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).
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Practice

Job Outlook for Bachelor's Degree Students Looks Bleak

A weak labor market has left half of college students (age twenty-five or younger) who graduated with a bachelor's degree either jobless or "underemployed" ? a troubling statistic.
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Pages

Voice of the Editor

Even though any accounting auditor would tell you it seems like there are an awful lot of tax accountants out there, surely one-third of the country isn't made up of tax preparers, so it's rather startling news to learn that one-third of Americans like to do their taxes. Who knew?
Read more
Gail Perry, CPA
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, AccountingWEB
editor@accountingweb.com
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