Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has agreed to plead guilty to tax fraud and pay a fine of close to 19 million euros ($21.6 million), allowing him to avoid a prison sentence. Ronaldo appeared in a Madrid court on Tuesday and signed the plea agreement, according to the Associated Press. “It’s done,” he reportedly said

Invented expenses; hidden returns, client gifts; skimmed immigrants; and other highlights of recent tax cases. New York: Art dealer Mary Boone potentially faces months in prison after pleading guilty last year to two counts of filing false returns, news outlets said. Prosecutors reportedly wanted Boone, who was scheduled to be sentenced in mid-January, to serve

Personal financial satisfaction declined in the fourth quarter of 2018 as stock market gyrations and the prospect of a government shutdown weighed on U.S. consumers, according to a survey by the American Institute of CPAs. The AICPA’s quarterly Personal Financial Satisfaction index (PFSi) decreased for the first time in two years. The decline in the

The National Conference of CPA Practitioners is stepping up to help government employees dealing with the ongoing government shutdown. NCCPAP announced that it will give any furloughed or unpaid critical federal employee “a significantly discounted fee” to have their 2018 return prepared by a participating NCCPAP CPA. Federal employees must provide proof of employment. Those

Remembering this season; retention pointers; IRS Mind; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers. Promises promises Mauled Again (http://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): AT&T, upstate New York, Florida and 150 positions: Why tax breaks for creating jobs should not be based on promises of future employee retention and hiring but on actual compliance with job creation. Tax Vox

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg While the ongoing government shutdown hasn’t delayed the expected start of tax season, other Internal Revenue Service functions have been impacted, with the service announcing today that it has cancelled a public hearing on proposed amendments to the regulations relating to imposing user fees for enrolled agents and enrolled retirement plan agents (REG-122898-17).

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department issued final regulations spelling out how U.S.-based companies will have to pay repatriation taxes on offshore profits under Section 965 of the tax code. Bloomberg News The IRS released proposed regulations on Section 965 in August, and the proposed rules went through a public comment period and

South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc. has led to the largest change in sales tax in the last 50 years. Since 1967, businesses have operated under the premise that a substantial physical presence is needed in a state, in order for said state to subject the business to their sales tax collection and remittance requirements. ”Substantial

As the federal government’s partial shutdown attains record lengths and neither side in Washington shows signs of budging on a $5 billion wall along the U.S./Mexican border, tax preparers’ clients seem pretty clear on the issue. “Clients are inquiring about the shutdown based upon their current position with the IRS,” said Enrolled Agent Janet Sienicki

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history could cause tens of thousands of businesses to make a tough choice about whether to claim one of the biggest perks in the Republican tax overhaul. Owners of so-called pass-through entities such as partnerships and limited liability companies have to file their businesses’ returns by March 15 —

Six Democratic leaders of committees in the House and Senate have written to Trump administration officials expressing concern that the partial government shutdown will prevent the federal government from paying the cost of Advance Premium Tax Credits to provide health coverage for millions of Americans who rely on Obamacare. In a letter Monday, they noted

Despite the partial government shutdown, the Internal Revenue Service has reopened the Income Verification Express Service used by mortgage lenders to verify borrowers’ income, relying on user fees to help pay the salaries of IRS employees working in the unit. Timothy Fadek/Bloomberg Approximately 70,000 IRS employees have been on unpaid furlough since the partial government

Americans may get their refunds during the shutdown, but the upcoming tax filing season is likely to be one of the rockiest in decades as the Internal Revenue Service grapples with a major tax overhaul with limited staff. The agency is rushing to update its systems following the biggest change to the tax code in

Business owners — and their accountants — can rest a bit easier: the IRS has given them the long-anticipated final word on how they can claim one of the biggest perks in the 2017 Republican tax overhaul. Timothy Fadek/Bloomberg The regulations detailing the new 20 percent deduction for pass-through business owners are of critical importance

In a former warehouse on a dimly lit street in the South Bronx, developers sipping Puerto Rican moonshine listened as a local official urged them to capture a new U.S. tax break by rebuilding the decaying neighborhood. In Alabama, a young lawyer quit his job after seeing the same tax break’s potential to help one

Phony debts; dead wrongs; all ‘zeros’; and other highlights of recent tax cases. Joliet, Ill.: Preparer Leticia Rodriguez, 42, has been convicted of committing identity theft through returns, according to published reports, and was also recently barred from preparing returns or owning a tax prep business. She reportedly pleaded guilty to two counts of ID

IRS Free File began its 17th filing season on Friday. The Internal Revenue Service said that it upgraded the free tax filing system, under which a dozen private-sector partners offer products to help eligible taxpayers navigate post-reform tax law and electronically prepare returns. More than 53 million taxpayers have used Free File since the program’s

The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday it wouldn’t penalize many taxpayers whose tax withholding and estimated tax payments fell short last year because of changes in the withholding tables under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The IRS said it would generally waive the tax penalty for any taxpayer who paid at least 85 percent

We recently merged two accounting practices into our firm this fall. One of the first things we discussed with our new colleagues was how to start communicating with clients when tax season kicks off in January. We discovered that one of the firms still mailed tax organizers to clients in January. While they didn’t really

The Treasury Department released a revised shutdown contingency plan on Tuesday calling for more than 46,000 Internal Revenue Service employees to return to work to get ready for tax filing season, but the majority of them will be unpaid until the partial government shutdown ends. Under the previous contingency plan that has been in place