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

 * How Romney avoided controversial tax practice. Mark Maremont – The Wall Street Journal. Mitt Romney appears to have dodged a bullet after his lawyer said last week that the GOP candidate never engaged in a tax practice that’s now being investigated by New York’s attorney general. The statement, however, created another mystery: How did Romney avoid getting involved in a tax practice that appears to have been widely used in recent years at his old firm, Bain Capital? Link  

* Facebook says no secondary offering to cover tax bill. Alexei Oreskovic – Reuters. Facebook Inc promised not to sell stock to cover a nearly $2 billion tax bill and said it will allow employees to cash in their stock weeks ahead of schedule, moving to soothe nervous investors and its own staff as its share price spirals downward. The world’s largest online social network company, which has lost more than 50 percent of its market value since going public in May, said on Tuesday its total shares outstanding will be reduced by roughly 101 million shares as a result of the move. Link  

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

* Candidates split over extending tax credit for wind energy producers. Catherine Ho – The Washington Post. President Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney clashed last week over a federal tax credit for businesses that produce wind and other alternative energy. In campaign events in Colorado, Obama emphasized his support for extending the tax credit and attacked Romney for opposing the extension, framing his opponent’s stance as a threat to job creation. Link

* Ryan wants to give the wealthy even bigger tax cuts than Romney does. Suzy Khimm – The Washington Post. In picking Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney has doubled down on his own campaign promise to give big tax breaks to the wealthy, uniting himself with a candidate who goes even further to do so: While Romney would bring taxes for top incomes down to 28 percent, Ryan has proposed bringing the top rate down even lower, to 25 percent. Meanwhile, Ryan’s plan would actually increase the effective tax rate on the very poorest Americans by getting rid of tax breaks that benefit low earners. Link

Good morning and welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* Wind-state Republicans in tough spot. Siobhan Hughes – The Wall Street Journal. Mitt Romney‘s opposition to a $5.2 billion wind tax credit is roiling Capitol Hill, where wind-state Republicans are scrambling to figure out how to save the credit without exposing sharp differences with their party’s presidential candidate. Republicans and Democrats had agreed to include the tax break, known as a production tax credit, in a package designed to extend expiring business tax breaks. But after Romney came out against the tax credit, Republicans were put in a tough spot. The result: The tax credit was omitted from a tax-extenders plan announced shortly after midnight that is to be voted on Thursday in the Senate Finance Committee. Link

Good morning and welcome to the top tax and accounting headlines from Reuters and other sources.

* Payroll tax cut on track to quietly expire. Naftali Bendavid – The Wall Street Journal. Amid a high-decibel fight over the nation’s budget, there is one emerging area of agreement: Both parties appear willing to quietly let a major tax cut expire—a payroll tax break enjoyed by about 122 million people. Republicans were unenthusiastic about the tax cut to begin with, preferring instead a broad overhaul of the tax code and contending it would weaken Social Security. Now the party is openly opposed to extending the tax break. Link

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

* Tax haven clampdown yields cash but secrecy still thrives. Chris Vellacott and Sinead Cruise – Reuters. A global campaign to tax trillions of dollars hidden in offshore tax havens has made revolutionary progress, an official leading the drive said, rejecting suggestions that the super rich are running rings around Western authorities. Leaders of the G20 group of leading Western and developing nations launched the campaign three years ago, aiming to claw back billions in lost tax revenue at a time when many governments are trying to cut huge budget deficits. Link

* Senate passes middle-class tax cut bill in symbolic move. Richard Cowan and Kim Dixon – Reuters. President Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats in the Senate on Wednesday won passage of a bill to renew tax cuts for tens of millions of Americans, while letting some rates rise for the wealthiest, in a largely symbolic vote. The legislation, certain to be rejected by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, lets Democrats claim in advance of the November 6 elections that they passed tax cuts for most Americans, only to be stymied by Republicans. Link

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

* Democrats aren’t all on same page before vote on Bush-era tax cuts. Jonathan Weisman – The New York Times. On the eve of the first showdown vote on expiring Bush-era tax cuts, it’s the Democrats who appear to be splintering. The Senate will vote Wednesday on whether to proceed to a tax bill that would extend current tax rates and other tax breaks for the middle class and working poor, while allowing income tax, capital gains and dividend rates to rise on earnings over $250,000. The measure will almost certainly fall to a Republican filibuster. Democratic leaders are hoping to get the support of 50 of the 53 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents in the Senate. Link

* White House tries to prod Congress with new tax report. Jared Favole – The Wall Street Journal. The White House is trying to ratchet up pressure on congressional Republicans, saying a new report shows middle-class families would see their tax bills increase by an average of $1,600 if Congress doesn’t extend tax cuts set to expire at year’s end. “Congress faces a choice,” says a new report released by the White House National Economic Council, which details the costs and benefits of different proposals from President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans over how to handle the Bush-era tax cuts that will expire at the end of the year. Link