Essential reading: Waiting on the phone for the IRS, and more
Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.
* Tactics for getting the IRS on the phone. Ann Carrns – The New York Times. Millions of people call the IRS each year. Last tax season, the average wait time to speak to a live representative was 17 minutes, up from 12 minutes in 2011, the Government Accountability Office found. Link
* James Tobin’s big idea is back, again. David Cottle – The Wall Street Journal. The European Commission wants to press ahead with an EU-wide tax on secondary-market bond, equity and derivatives transactions, which it called for in 2011. However, at present it seems that only 11 out of 17 euro-zone countries intend to apply the tax. Link
Exclusive: Foreigners’ accounts in U.S. banks eyed in tax crackdown
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration may soon ask Congress for the power to require more disclosure by U.S. banks of information about foreign clients’ accounts to those clients’ home governments, as part of a crackdown on tax evasion, sources said on Monday.
In a move facing resistance from some in the U.S. banking industry, two tax industry sources said the administration was considering asking Congress in an upcoming White House budget proposal for the authority to require more disclosure from U.S. banks.
Foreigners’ accounts in U.S. banks eyed in tax crackdown
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration may soon ask Congress for the power to require more disclosure by U.S. banks of information about foreign clients’ accounts to those clients’ home governments, as part of a crackdown on tax evasion, sources said on Monday.
In a move facing resistance from some in the U.S. banking industry, two tax industry sources said the administration was considering asking Congress in an upcoming White House budget proposal for the authority to require more disclosure from U.S. banks.
Essential reading: Democrats target corporate tax breaks, and more
Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.
* Democrats target corporate tax breaks. James Politi – The Financial Times. Senate Democrats want to slash corporate tax breaks in search of new revenue, as an alternative to $1.2 trillion in impending across-the-board spending cuts, digging in against Republicans who are opposed to higher taxes and stoking calls for a revival of bipartisan deficit talks. Link
* ‘Tobin tax’ push causes dismay. Chris Flood – The Financial Times. The European Commission appears determined to press ahead with a Europe-wide financial transaction tax in spite of warnings that it threatens the existence of Europe’s 1 trillion euro ($1.37 trillion) money market funds industry. Link
Judge freezes IRS tax preparer rules for now
(Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Friday modified an earlier order and said the Internal Revenue Service does not have to shut down a new program for registering and testing tax preparers, but he also said preparers need not take IRS tests or pay related fees.
Moving to freeze both sides in a dispute over the IRS program, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia effectively made it voluntary for about 350,000 non-professional tax preparers to take new IRS exams and continuing education. The IRS had sought to make this mandatory.
U.S. judge freezes IRS tax preparer rules for now
Feb 1 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Friday modified an earlier
order and said the Internal Revenue Service does not have to
shut down a new program for registering and testing tax
preparers, but he also said preparers need not take IRS tests or
pay related fees.
Moving to freeze both sides in a dispute over the IRS
program, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia effectively made it voluntary for about
350,000 non-professional tax preparers to take new IRS exams and
continuing education. The IRS had sought to make this mandatory.
Essential reading: Early payouts of dividends, bonuses spur a windfall, and more
Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.
* Early payouts of dividends, bonuses spur a windfall. Josh Mitchell – The Wall Street Journal. Many Americans got a happy financial surprise at the end of last year, as companies pulled forward payouts of dividends and bonuses to beat anticipated January tax increases. Link
Essential reading: U.S. is preparing more tax-evasion cases, and more
Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.
* U.S. is preparing more tax-evasion cases. Laura Saunders – The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. is expanding its crackdown of offshore tax evasion, preparing numerous criminal cases against suspected offenders, defense lawyers involved in the cases say. Link
* Federal rule limits aid to families who can’t afford employers’ health coverage. Robert Pear – The New York Times. In deciding whether an employer’s health plan is affordable, the Internal Revenue Service said it would look at the cost of coverage only for an individual employee, not for a family. Family coverage might be prohibitively expensive, but federal subsidies would not be available to help buy insurance for children in the family. Link
Essential reading: India sees end to Vodafone tax dispute, and more
Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.
* India sees end to Vodafone tax dispute. James Blitz and Lionel Barber – The Financial Times. India’s finance minister is confident that a $2.6 billion tax dispute with Vodafone is close to being settled as the Indian government attempts to win back international investor confidence. Link
* Amazon’s growing problem. Justin Lahart – The Wall Street Journal. The holiday season really was a taxing time for Amazon.com. Texas in July and California and Pennsylvania in September started collecting online sales taxes. Together, the three states account for a quarter of the U.S. population, so a fair-sized chunk of American shoppers had one less reason to buy online. Link
Essential reading: Mickelson and the sports star migration, and more
Golfer Phil Mickelson of the U.S. REUTERS/Hans Deryk
Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.
Mickelson and the sports star migration. Allysia Finley – The Wall Street Journal opinion. America’s top-grossing golfer Phil Mickelson drove himself into a bunker on Jan. 20 when he said that federal and California state tax hikes had made him contemplate making “drastic changes” in his life —including, it was widely assumed, moving to a no-income-tax state such as Texas or Florida. But he was only stating publicly what many professional athletes are mulling privately. Link
Bank of America shifts derivatives to UK. Patrick Jenkins – The Financial Times. The move, part of the group’s global drive to rationalize its operations, has been encouraged by regulators but will also allow BofA to benefit from tax breaks stemming from the accumulated losses in its UK business. Link
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