May 30, 2014
Unlicensed Florida Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty in $22 Million Tax Fraud
An income tax preparer in the Miami, Florida suburb of Plantation has pleaded guilty to filing $22 million in false refund claims with the federal government.
May 30, 2014
Oregon Woman Charged with 173 Counts of Filing Bogus Tax Returns, $1 Million in Refunds
Internal Revenue Service investigators have charged a Northeast Portland woman of filing as many as 173 fraudulent tax returns claiming more than a $1 million in refunds.
May 30, 2014
Summertime Tax Tip #7: Salvage Tax Deductions by Donating Household Items
It’s a common practice during the summer: After a spring cleaning, people try to sell the household items they no longer need or want in a “garage sale” (known as a “lawn sale, “tag sale” or some other name in parts of the country). But what do they do with those items that are left…
May 29, 2014
Energy Tax Specialist Explains Clean Energy Tax Incentives
The ITC is not simply a deduction, explained Parker. It is a tax credit good for up to 30% of the cost of the project, and is often an incentive that can only be enjoyed by entities with substantial passive income and a large tax appetite. Passive losses can only be offset by passive income.
May 27, 2014
Summertime Tax Tip #6: Climb Over Tax Obstacles for Business Vehicles
Congress keeps threatening to close some of the long-standing loopholes in the tax law. But one key tax break for business people has remained on the books despite numerous efforts to repeal it. It’s the special tax provision for certain heavy-duty vehicles.
May 26, 2014
Bay Area Workers Pushing for $15 Minimum Wage
At $10.74 an hour, San Francisco already has the nation's highest big city minimum wage. But it could soon have company, as labor and community activists in cities from Richmond to Sunnyvale push wage increases that could turn the Bay Area into a high-wage hub.
May 22, 2014
150,000 Taxpayers Used New IRS Online Payment System
The Internal Revenue Service says that more than 150,000 taxpayers used its new web-based system IRS Direct Pay to pay their tax bills or make estimated tax payments directly from checking or savings accounts without any fees or pre-registration.
May 21, 2014
Tax Pro Says Pennsylvania Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Creates Tax Advantages for LGBT Families
Tax experts from the Philadelphia LGBT practice of Marcum LLP advise that Tuesday's court ruling overturning the ban on same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania opens up important planning opportunities for these families. Marcum is the first national accounting firm with a practice dedicated to tax and estate planning for same-sex couples.
May 21, 2014
New Legislation Targets Companies that Claim Foreign Status for Tax Purposes
There has been a surge of American companies that have changed the address of their headquarters to a foreign country, a maneuver referred to as an “inversion” that allows them to avoid U.S. taxes. The FACT (Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency) Coalition hails the introduction of legislation to close the “inversion” loophole,.
May 21, 2014
IRS Names New Members of Tax Exempt Advisory Committee
The Internal Revenue Service has announced that its Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT) will hold a public meeting on June 11, when the panel will submit its annual reports and recommendations to senior IRS executives. Ten newly appointed members of the panel (listed below) will also be introduced at the public…
May 21, 2014
Fraud Prevention for Financial Institutions
E. Michael Thomas, CFE, CPA, CIA, a partner with Crowe Horwath, LLP, discusses fraud prevention for financial institutions.
May 21, 2014
Report: Businesses Losing 5% of Revenue to Fraud
Organizations around the world lose an estimated five percent of their annual revenues to occupational fraud, according to a survey of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) who investigated cases between January 2012 and December 2013. Applied to the estimated 2013 Gross World Product, this figure translates to a potential total fraud loss of more than $3.5…