Washington Hotline – March – Week 1 – 2011

Senate Starts Tax Reform 2011   The Senate Finance Committee opened hearings on March 1, 2011 to discuss the topic of general tax reform. Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) started the hearing by recounting the major changes in America between 1980 and 2011. He noted that in 1980, “The Berlin Wall was still intact, most business [...]

Washington Hotline – February – Week 4 – 2011

IRS Announces Open House The IRS announced on February 23 that it is holding open houses in 100 IRS offices. The offices will be open from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm local time on Saturday, February 26 and Saturday, March 26. Commissioner of the IRS Doug Shulman stated, “We are opening our doors these Saturdays [...]

Washington Hotline – February – Week 3 – 2011

White House Budget Release Starts Debate On February 14, the White House released its proposed budget for fiscal year 2012. Following the release, there were extensive comments by the White House, Senate leaders and House of Representative leaders. The new budget proposes spending $3.7 trillion next year. With an estimated total federal revenue of $2.6 [...]

Washington Hotline – February – Week 2 – 2011

Fed Chair Bernanke Defends Bond Purchases Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke appeared on February 9 before the House Budget Committee. He defended the plan by the Federal Reserve to purchase another $600 billion of government bonds. This would bring the total holdings of the Federal Reserve to approximately $2.6 trillion. Previously, the Federal Reserve lowered [...]

Washington Hotline – February – Week 1 – 2011

IRS Highlights Free Tax Help – Promises Software Update In an information letter published on January 27, the IRS highlighted the availability of free tax help. There will be 12,000 free tax preparation sites nationwide. The IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program will assist anyone with earnings less than $49,000 for 2010. In addition, [...]

Washington Hotline – January – Week 5 – 2011

Tax Reform on 2011 Agenda In the State of the Union Address, President Obama mentioned an interest in tax reform. He suggested that simplifying the income tax code would be “the best thing we could do on taxes for all Americans.” He continued that it will “be a tough job, but members of both parties [...]

Washington Hotline – January – Week 4 – 2011

e-Filing Season Now Open In a flurry of information letters, the IRS announced that e-Filing is now open. According to IR-2011-5, the benefit of e-filing is that taxpayers may receive faster refunds and ensure that their tax return is accurately reported. IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman stated, “IRS e-File is the best option for everyone, especially [...]

Washington Hotline – January – Week 3 – 2011

Chairman Bernanke Advocates 2011 Tax Reform Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke met January 7th with the Senate Budget Committee. He spoke on the topic of tax reform during 2011. Mr. Bernanke noted, “Greater clarity and certainty is obviously beneficial, and to the extent you can create more certainty about where the tax code [...]

Washington Hotline – January – Week 2 – 2011

House Rules Focus on Budget On January 5th the House Republican Majority adopted new rules on House operations. The rules were adopted on a vote that generally followed party lines with 240 in favor and 191 opposed. Under the new House rules, there is a “cut as you go” budget requirement. This provision requires any [...]

Washington Hotline – January – Week 1 – 2011

IRS Warns About Tax Delays Because the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 was enacted on December 17, 2010, the IRS is warning taxpayers that the federal government will not be prepared to process tax returns until mid-to-late February of 2011. The IRS will need time to modify computers and [...]