The Internal Revenue Service issued two announcements Friday regarding its proposal to require certain corporate taxpayers to report their uncertain tax positions. Responding to comments from the AICPA and others, the IRS has made several significant changes to the plan and is expanding its policy of restraint in connection with uncertain tax positions. The IRS also issued the final version of Schedule UTP and taxpayer instructions, starting with this tax year. Read more»

The House on Thursday passed the Small Business Jobs Act and sent it to the president, who is expected to sign the bill into law. The legislation, which the Senate passed last week, would expand loan programs through the Small Business Administration, strengthen small-business preference programs for federal projects and give incentives to exporters. It also would include a variety of small-business tax breaks and some revenue raisers. Read more»

The HTB litigation support team was an exhibitor at the 25th annual Baton Rouge Bar Association Law Expo which took place at the Belle of Baton Rouge Atrium on September 8, 2010. HTB exhibitors included Marketing Director Karen Corkern and members of the litigation support team Kerri Pepper, Jay Montalbano and Ronnie Gagnet. Read more»

Many Democrats are joining Republicans in an effort to repeal a tax provision in the health care reform law that would require businesses to file a 1099 tax form for anyone from whom they purchase more than $600 in goods. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., says that businesses with fewer than 25 employees should be exempt from the requirement and that the reporting threshold for larger businesses should be set at $5,000 rather than $600. A spokeswoman for the National Federation of Independent Business said that under the proposal, businesses would still have to track vendor payments to determine whether they exceed the threshold. Read more»

HTB employees Karen Corkern, Jerrett Richter and Jay Montalbano will appear on WBRZ’s Sunday Journal with John Pastorek. The 30 minute program will air on September 12th at 8am. The program is focusing on the upcoming Alzheimer’s Services of the Capital Area’s “Walk/Run to Remember” taking place on October 9 at LSU’s Old Front Nine. HTB will be participating for an 8th consecutive year. Read more»

As part of its ongoing initiative to require certain business taxpayers to disclose uncertain tax positions on their tax returns, the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations on Wednesday requiring the use of Schedule UTP, Uncertain Tax Position Statement. Read more»

The Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday released a draft of the form small businesses will use to calculate and claim the new health care tax credit. Eligible businesses with 25 or fewer full-time employees and less than $50,000 in average wages per year, and that contribute at least half the cost of single coverage toward buying health insurance for their employees, can claim a credit equal to 35% of the premiums they pay (25% for eligible tax-exempt organizations). Read more»

More Democrats want to extend all the Bush tax cuts for a year or two, even those for the wealthy, because of a weak economy and fear of raising taxes before the November elections. However, most Democrats in Congress support the president’s plan to make the tax cuts permanent for middle- and low-income families and let the cuts for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and married couples making more than $250,000 expire. Read more»

The AICPA and auditor firms are concerned that companies may be misrepresenting the public significance of audit reports conducted under the Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70. Using terms like “SAS 70 certified” or “SAS 70 compliant” to attract potential customers is concerning because each SAS 70 report is voluntarily commissioned and has no specific criteria, says Chuck Landes, AICPA’s vice president of professional standards and services. Read more»

http://www.ifrs.com/pdf/buss_brief_2010-08_v1.pdf