Taxes

Receiving little publicity among more high-profile financial changes in 2011 was a new law (bills S5637 and A8223-A) that exempts the sales and use of certain electronic news services and electronic periodicals from state and local sales and use taxes (sales tax).

Nashville singer Britt Savage has found that the Child and Dependent Care 1040A form is useful for more than just reporting the expenses and benefits that come from taking care of children and other dependents during the course of your tax year. It also makes for a mighty fine pink dress.

After negotiations with its European Union counterparts in Paris last week, U.S. tax authorities have agreed to propose changes to the way that foreign income is reported due to concerns voiced by banks and governments that the current model breaches privacy and is unnecessarily complex, according to the Financial Times.

CPA Blog readers might remember that on Jan. 11, we reported that the IRS said technology improvements would allow it to issue refunds to some taxpayers in as few as 10 days, if they e-file and select direct deposit.

Thieves who steal taxpayers' personal tax-related information can use it to steal identities as well, according to a recent release from the IRS. To help prevent these crimes, the IRS offers the following suggestions.

The roughly 98,000 men and women employed nationwide by the federal government ended FY 2010 owing about one billion dollars worth of unpaid back taxes, according to the Washington Post, $32 million higher than last year’s total, despite a slight dip in the number of delinquent employees.

The Tax Department is offering a series of free webinars to help tax professionals learn how to create and manage Online Services accounts.  These accounts help preparers comply with new state e-filing rules that require tax professionals to file virtually all state tax forms online.

A review team from the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) concluded that Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Interpretation No.

The President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness on Tuesday made a number of recommendations for jolting the nation’s jobs that, among other things, proposes that the statutory corporate tax rate be lowered to rates of what it called international competitiveness, according to the Los Angeles Times.