The IRS issued final regulations governing how to elect to treat the sale or exchange of a musical work or copyright in a musical work as a sale or exchange of a capital asset.
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Foreign Housing Expense Limitations for 2011 Released
The IRS has provided the inflation-adjusted limitations on foreign housing expenses for 2011.
IRS Revises Withholding Rules for Nonresident Alien Employees
The IRS announced the 2011 procedures for withholding on wages of nonresident alien employees who work in the United States
Individual Insurance Mandate Held Unconstitutional Again
A second federal district court has held that the individual insurance mandate in the health care reform legislation is unconstitutional.
New 1099 Rules: President’s Speech Offers Hope for Some Relief; Exceptions for Rental Income Reporting Remain Vague
For small businesses that were dreading the thought of having to produce a Form 1099 for every payee to which they paid at least $600, President Barack Obama offered the prospect of relief in his State of the Union speech January 25 when he said, “We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the [health care] legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses.”
Bill Introduced to Address Tax Strategy Patents
On January 25, Senators Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced legislation intended to stop the granting of patents for tax strategies.
IRS Targets 1040 Schedules, Procedures in Preparer Compliance Visits
In its current round of office visits involving tax preparer compliance, the IRS is targeting practitioners who prepare a high percentage of returns with certain Form 1040 schedules and is checking preparers’ procedures and recordkeeping.
IRS Gives Relief to Return Preparers with Pending PTIN Applications
Because some return preparers are having trouble with the IRS’ new online PTIN application, the IRS on January 24 announced that it is providing relief for preparers who make a good-faith effort to comply with the new PTIN requirement.
Lack of Economic Substance Guidance May Chill Legitimate Planning, Organizations Warn
The AICPA and the American Bar Association (ABA) Tax Section jointly issued a comprehensive set of recommendations to the IRS to encourage the Service to quickly establish guidance for applying the economic substance doctrine.
IRS Announces Date to Start Processing Delayed Returns
The IRS announced that it plans to be able to start processing tax returns delayed by the late enactment of the 2010 Tax Relief Act on February 14.
AICPA Offers Congress 13 Suggested Cleanups for the Tax Code
The AICPA’s second annual compendium of legislative proposals, distributed to key congressional tax committee leaders, seeks to correct technical problems related to a wide range of issues such as tax credits, due dates and penalties.
IRS Will Not Meet 80% E-File Goal, Oversight Board Says
The IRS Oversight Board released its Electronic Filing 2010 Annual Report to Congress on January 19, including the news that its goal that 80% of all major tax return types be electronically filed will likely not be met by 2012.
IRS Allows More Small Exempt Organizations to File E-Postcard
The IRS has raised the gross receipts threshold for Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax, from $25,000 to $50,000, allowing more tax-exempt organizations to avoid filing a full Form 990 or 990-EZ.
2011 Tax Filing Season Gets Under Way with Many Changes
The IRS started accepting e-filed and Free File returns on January 14, marking the official start of the 2011 tax filing season. However, many taxpayers will not be able to file until some time in February while the IRS updates forms and reprograms its systems to account for legislative changes made late in 2010.
Treasury Introduces Prepaid Debit Cards for Tax Refunds
The Treasury Department announced a pilot program of prepaid debit cards to allow taxpayers without bank accounts to receive their tax refunds more quickly.
IRS Oversight Board Releases Latest Taxpayer Attitude Survey Results
The IRS Oversight Board has released the results of its 2010 Taxpayer Attitude Survey showing that taxpayers feel that income tax cheating is unacceptable and are generally satisfied with their personal interaction with the IRS.
Automatic Procedures for Changing Accounting Methods Updated, Expanded
The IRS released updated procedures under which taxpayers can receive automatic consent to change their accounting methods.
PTINs a Pain for Some CPAs
As the start of tax filing season looms, some CPA preparers are reporting difficulties meeting the new IRS requirement to register and obtain or renew a PTIN.
IRS Exempts CPA-Supervised Nonsigners From New Preparer Rules
The IRS released guidance on the implementation of new regulations governing tax return preparers, and provided an exception to its return preparer regulation plan for nonsigning preparers supervised by a CPA, attorney, enrolled agent or other Circular 230 practitioner.
IRS Updates Guidance on Adequate Disclosure of Positions
The IRS has released updated guidance identifying when a taxpayer’s disclosure of an item or position in an income tax return is adequate for purposes of reducing the understatement of tax penalty and the tax return preparer penalty for understatement due to unreasonable positions.
TAX PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
2025 tax software survey
AICPA members in tax practice assess how their return preparation software performed during tax season and offer insights into their procedures.
