Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

 * Tax reform tops agenda – and helps explain campaign spending explosion. Tom Hamburger – The Washington Post. It is no accident that much of the record spending in this year’s election, now funding an avalanche of last-minute ads across the country, comes from groups with a strong interest in shaping federal tax rules. Tax reform is likely to be at the top of the agenda for the next Congress. Link

* For business, vote holds high stakes. Damian Paletta and Brody Mullins – The Wall Street Journal. The outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election carries enormous weight for executives of American businesses, big and small, influencing everything from the taxes they are required to pay to the attitudes of regulators who scrutinize them. Taxes are high on the business worry list. Link  

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* Looming tax hike motivates owners to sell. John McKinnon – The Wall Street Journal. A looming increase in the capital-gains tax rate next year is fueling sales of some privately-held businesses. Many business owners—mostly founders who could gain a lot from a sale—are looking to close deals before next year, when the maximum tax on investment income is scheduled to rise from 15 percent currently to at least 23.8 percent on most capital gains, at least for higher-income households. Many sellers intend to convert their equity into retirement funds or just start anew. Link

* Tax deadline extended for Sandy victims. Siobhan Hughes – The Wall Street Journal. The Internal Revenue Service said it would give people affected by superstorm Sandy one more week to file tax returns and make payments that otherwise would have been due Wednesday. The government said taxpayers and tax preparers affected by Sandy would have until Nov. 7 to submit forms and payments. Link

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

 * Google and Starbucks face tax questions. Jim Pickard and Vanessa Houlder – The Financial Times. Google and Starbucks will be subjected to United Kingdom parliamentary scrutiny over their tax affairs for the first time next Monday with the public accounts committee set to demand that the two US corporate giants give evidence. Members of the influential committee agreed on Monday evening to call in the two companies to give evidence at a session into Revenue & Customs where inspectors will be asked about their contributions to the exchequer. Link 

* Some investors likely to face new tax bite. A.D. Pruitt – The Wall Street Journal. The presidential election could determine whether the wealthiest Americans will see their income taxes rise or fall. But there is one tax increase that is likely to occur no matter who wins office: an investment surtax that begins on New Year’s Day and will hit thousands of real-estate investors. Link  

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* Fiscal cliff forces all sides to jockey. Damian Paletta – The Wall Street Journal. Lawmakers, CEOs, business groups and charities are scrambling to shape the debate over tax and spending policy after the November elections, staking out negotiating positions for what could be a fast-paced brawl. The jockeying is intensifying as Election Day approaches, despite a halt in talks between party leaders about how to avoid a total of $500 billion in annual tax increases and federal spending cuts set to begin in January. Link

* Political pastors offer up Biblical bait to IRS during election season. Greg Bluestein and Katie Leslie – The Atlanta Journal Constitution. A nearly 60-year-old tax law prohibits preaching politics from the pulpit, but with just days before the presidential election, dozens of Georgia’s religious leaders are embracing a movement to challenge the rule. Pastors across metro Atlanta have openly flouted the law in recent weeks, attacking the Internal Revenue Service’s stance as an intrusion of their sacred free speech rights. Link

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* Obama administration looking at new tax cut-Washington Post. Mark Felsenthal – Reuters. The Obama administration is considering a possible tax cut that would increase workers’ take-home salaries and replace the payroll tax reduction set to expire at the end of the year, The Washington Post reported on Friday. The White House said no new tax policy suggestion had been formulated. Link

* Stock pickers game the fiscal cliff. Jonathan Cheng – The Wall Street Journal. A number of companies are seeking to get ahead of the tax increases by paying out big special dividends before Dec. 31. In the past two weeks, at least four Standard & Poor’s 500 companies have announced special payouts. Link

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outside the Treasury Department in Washington.

Welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* Treasury says firm discussed tax break. Eric Lichtblau and Eric Lipton – The New York Times. The Treasury Department said Thursday that a communications firm with close ties to President Obama talked to the administration about allowing tax breaks for its corporate clients on more than $1 trillion in offshore revenues. The firm, SKDKnickerbocker, has insisted that it never spoke with senior Treasury Department officials about the offshore tax issue and that it does not lobby policy makers on issues affecting its corporate clients. Link