WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) – Fourteen countries,
including Switzerland, were called out on Friday by the
Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) for not meeting new global standards meant to
crack down on tax dodgers.

The standards – which call for automatic data exchange
between countries when tax cheating is suspected – reflect a
tougher approach in recent years by the United States, Britain,
Germany and other developed countries toward tax avoidance.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Legislation giving states the power to compel retailers outside their borders to collect online sales taxes, a touchy subject for Internet merchants, is likely to move forward in the Senate next week.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday filed a motion in support of the measure. Currently, states rely on consumers to self-report, which they rarely do.

ZURICH/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Swiss and U.S. governments were considering on Wednesday a possible solution to end their dispute over Swiss banks accused of helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars in taxes.

In a struggle that has unfolded amid a global crackdown on tax evasion by cash-strapped governments, a source familiar with the long-running and complex talks has told Reuters that the two countries have agreed on an outline for a deal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senators could vote as early as next week on legislation that would give states the authority to collect sales taxes from online purchases, Democratic Senate aides said on Wednesday, a significant step forward after years of false starts.

Though the legal change provided by the bill has enjoyed bipartisan support for years, previous versions of this legislation have languished in Congress, facing opposition from some online retail companies and lawmakers from both parties.

WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) – U.S. senators could vote as
early as next week on legislation that would give states the
authority to collect sales taxes from online purchases,
Democratic Senate aides said on Wednesday, a significant step
forward after years of false starts.

Though the legal change provided by the bill has enjoyed
bipartisan support for years, previous versions of this
legislation have languished in Congress, facing opposition from
some online retail companies and lawmakers from both parties.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The annual cost of corporate tax breaks – including one that eases shifting profits offshore and out of the U.S. taxman’s reach – has more than doubled to $180 billion since 1987, according to a report released on Monday.

Corporate tax deferral, the potential indefinite postponement of U.S. taxes on profits held offshore, makes up nearly a quarter of that sum, according to Government Accountability Office report released on April 15, which is the deadline for individuals to file their tax returns.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Republican lawmakers concurred on Thursday that overhauls of the corporate and individual tax codes should be tackled together, but their agreement ended there.

Diverging sharply on whether new federal revenues should be raised from the affluent, Lew and the Republicans left prospects for comprehensive tax reform cloudy amid persistent partisan conflict on Capitol Hill over tax-and-spending policy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama received rare words of praise from a senior House of Representatives Republican on Thursday, with the head of the tax-writing committee saying Obama has “evolved” by explicitly pledging not to raise total corporate taxes as part of a tax overhaul.

Speaking at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp again pledged to pass a broad tax bill this year in his committee.

WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama
received rare words of praise from a senior House of
Representatives Republican on Thursday, with the head of the
tax-writing committee saying Obama has “evolved” by explicitly
pledging not to raise total corporate taxes as part of a tax
overhaul.

Speaking at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science
Monitor, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp again
pledged to pass a broad tax bill this year in his committee.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday revived a list of his favourite tax ideas, hoping to raise $580 billion (378.3 billion pounds) in new revenues from the wealthy over a decade in a potential opening gambit to forge a deal with Congress to overhaul the U.S. tax code.

While certain not to move forward en masse, his 2014 budget blueprint has elements likely to spur discussion, including a proposal to tax derivatives more stringently, as lawmakers weigh a revamp of the tax code and face a deadline on the government’s debt limit this summer.