Advice

While many countries view taxation of digital service providers as an untapped revenue resource, there are several approaches to implementing such a tax. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has been working at building a consensus framework for a global approach. However, several countries, including the U.K. and France, have gone ahead and enacted

The IRS has selected nine new members for its Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee. The committee’s aim is to prevent identity theft and refund fraud in support of paperless filing of tax and information returns. ETAAC members work closely with the Security Summit, a joint effort of the IRS, state tax administrators and the tax

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a second early draft version of the new Schedule 1 for next tax season’s Form 1040 to include a question up top about whether a taxpayer has sold, received, exchanged or acquired cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. The question asks, “At any time during 2019, did you receive,

Everybody out of the Pool; dying Embers; the House falls; and other highlights of recent tax cases. Middletown, Connecticut: Eugene Carlin, 59, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for drug trafficking and tax offenses. In July 2018, police searched Carlin’s residence and seized approximately

Accounting software giant Intuit has introduced new cloud-hosting capabilities for Lacerte and ProSeries products, in partnership with Right Networks, which has provided cloud hosting for Intuit products for almost two decades. The new offerings, named Hosting for Intuit ProSeries and Hosting for Intuit Lacerte, will allow users of each suite to eliminate on-site servers if

The IRS has issued additional guidance on common questions regarding the tax treatment of a cryptocurrency hard fork (when a single cryptocurrency splits in two). A new set of FAQs also addresses virtual currency transactions for those who hold it as a capital asset. Some taxpayers with virtual currency transactions may have failed to report

Victims of Tropical Storm Imelda in parts of Texas, including the Houston area, now have until late January to file various federal individual and business returns and make tax payments. The Internal Revenue Service is offering this relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as qualifying for individual assistance. Currently this

The Internal Revenue Service could make better use of its data to ferret out abusive tax schemes involving charities and other tax-exempt groups, including syndicated conservation easements, according to a new report. The report, from the Government Accountability Office, found the IRS doesn’t consistently analyze data from its existing databases to help identify these kinds

The IRS has published a notice of which per diem rates taxpayers should use as of October 1. The per diem rates are used to substantiate the amount of expenses used for lodging, meals and incidental costs when traveling away from home, including: The special transportation industry rate; The rate for the incidental expenses only

Technology certainly has had a tremendous effect on the way accounting and tax preparation are performed. A large part of that is because the way the profession is practiced is governed by regulations and standards promulgated by various regulators, standard-setters, and various state and municipal governments. Research in these areas is a necessary evil. People

The National Conference of CPA Practitioners is urging two leading members of the Senate Finance Committee to pass the Taxpayer Protection and Preparer Proficiency Act of 2019, which would give the Internal Revenue Service the authority to regulate tax preparers. In a letter to Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Ron Wyden,

That’s Almorli; uniform justice; the cookie crumbles; and other highlights of recent tax cases. Rocky Mount, North Carolina: Preparer Amber Gernell Porter, 32, has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison to be followed by a year of supervised release for preparing false returns. Porter was a preparer at the now-defunct Everyday

The Internal Revenue Service released drafts of the two critical partnership forms for 2019. The proposed versions of Form 1065, “U.S. Return of Partnership Income,” and Schedule K-1, “Partner’s Share of Income Deductions, Credits, etc.,” have been updated in hopes of improving the quality of information that partnerships report to both the IRS and their

The Internal Revenue Service needs to pay more attention to its employees’ side hustles, according to a new report. The report, from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, found that as many as 2,200 IRS employees hold unapproved jobs outside the agency that put them at a higher risk of real or perceived conflicts

The Internal Revenue Service expects more taxpayers than ever before will have chosen to wait to file their 2018 individual tax returns until the Oct. 15, 2019 extended deadline. This is presumably due to the many changes brought about by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the continuing flow of guidance from the IRS

New regulations from the Internal Revenue Service provide relief to some U.S. taxpayers who own stock in certain foreign corporations. Rev. Proc. 2019-40 and the proposed regulations limit the inquiries required by U.S. taxpayers to determine whether certain foreign businesses are controlled foreign corporations. The revenue procedure also allows some unrelated minority U.S. shareholders to

The Internal Revenue Service had a difficult time coming out with guidance, forms and instructions for provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act like the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, or GILTI, according to a new report. The report, from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, noted that the TCJA’s international reforms included shifting

The Internal Revenue Service released a new set of tax gap estimates Thursday for tax years 2011, 2012 and 2013, but they indicate the tax compliance rate is mostly unchanged from previous years. The gross tax gap means the difference between true tax liability for a given period and the amount of tax that is

Mr. Unfreeze; Discount miscount; pity me, pity me; and other highlights of recent tax cases. Glendale, California: Former Wells Fargo branch manager Hakop Zakaryan, 34, has pleaded guilty to one felony count of bank fraud for using his position to help launder proceeds of a tax fraud and identity theft scheme. The scheme involved using

The Internal Revenue Service issued new per diem rates Wednesday, Sept. 25, for business travelers to use for lodging, meals and incidental expenses, effective Oct. 1, 2019. Notice 2019-55 provides the annual update to the rates that taxpayers can use to substantiate the amount of expenses for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses when traveling away