Despite John’s being employed full-time in a large corporation, he spent considerably more time at his freelancing activity this past year. The activity involves touring on his bicycle, writing articles, and taking pictures about his tours, the local attractions, and the people he met along the way. He sold these articles to various publishers and increased his income significantly in 2010 over 2009. At first only a few publishers of bicycling magazines were interested, but soon word spread and travel magazine publishers liked his “on-the-road” perspective of local attractions and the people he encountered.

A recent informal poll of enrolled agents (federally-licensed tax practitioners) revealed many common misconceptions among taxpayers

The federal government this week has filed six lawsuits in five states to stop tax return preparers from fraudulently claiming the first-time homebuyer tax credit and the earned-income tax credit.

A federal court in Denver has permanently barred Curtis L. Morris of Elizabeth, CO, from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced this week.

Intuit, the makers of, among other software, ProLine Tax Research, has agreed to share with our readers the most-sought-after tax research terms that accountants are searching for this busy season.

Glenn Reeves of Burlington, Kansas, has created a free Microsoft Excel-based version of the 2010 U.S. Individual Tax Return, commonly known as Form 1040.

In an annual survey of taxpayer attitudes, 87 percent responded that cheating on taxes is "not at all" acceptable. While the vast majority said they were opposed to cheating, 8 percent said "a little here and there" is OK, while 4 percent said it is acceptable to cheat "as much as possible."

The Internal Revenue Service is now open for 2010 tax business, ready to accept electronically filed income tax returns from most taxpayers.

The Internal Revenue Service has announced that taxpayers affected by three recently reinstated deductions need to wait until mid- to late February to file their individual tax returns, as well as those taxpayers who itemize deductions on Form 1040 Schedule A.