NSA constantly monitors developments at the Internal Revenue Service and serves as your eyes and ears inside the IRS.  Through regular meetings with IRS officials, NSA works to influence IRS practice, procedure and operations to promote the interests of practitioners and your clients.  You can play a major role this work by keeping NSA apprised of problems you experience in dealing with the IRS.

NSA Urges U.S. Senate Finance Committee to Enact Tax Preparer Legislation
Proposed legislation would require tax preparers to demonstrate expertise; national exams offered by credentialing organizations would demonstrate proficiency.

National Society of Accountants Statement for the Record to the Senate Finance Committee: Filing Your Taxes: An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

If you attend a local IRS/Practitioner liaison meeting, please take a few minutes and fill out an ASO-IRS Liaison Meeting Report and send it to the NSA national office.  By completing this form, you can alert NSA to developments in the field and help elevate important issues to the national level. 

IRS NEWS & FACT SHEETS
Click here for: IRS News Releases and Fact Sheets

Recent IRS News & Regulations
New Regs for Fishing and Farming Income
The IRS issued new final and temporary regulations reflecting changes to the law made by the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. The regulations provide guidance to individuals engaged in a farming or fishing business who elect to reduce their tax liability by treating all or a portion of the current taxable year's farm or fishing income as if one-third of it had been earned in each of the prior three taxable years. The regulations are effective July 22, 2008.

New Regs on Start-Up Expenses
The IRS released final and temporary regulations relating to elections to deduct start-up expenditures under section 195 organizational expenditures of corporations under section 248, and organizational expenses of  partnerships under section 709. The regulations affect taxpayers that pay or incur these expenses and provide guidance on how to elect to deduct the expenses in accordance with the new rules. The text of these temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations. These regulations are effective on July 8, 2008. Click here for Final Regulations and here for  Proposed Regulations.

New Regs on Escrow Accounts, Trusts, and Other Funds Used During Deferred Exchanges of Like-Kind Property
The IRS released final regulations under section 468B that provide rules regarding the taxation of income earned on escrow accounts, trusts, and other funds used during deferred like-kind exchanges of property, and final regulations under section 7872 regarding below-market loans to facilitators of these exchanges. The regulations affect taxpayers that engage in deferred like-kind exchanges and escrow holders, trustees, qualified intermediaries, and others that hold funds during deferred like-kind exchanges. These regulations are effective July 10, 2008.

New Regs on Reasonable Good Faith Interpretation of RMD Rules by Governmental Plans
The IRS released proposed regulations under sections 401(a)(9) and 403(b) to permit a governmental plan to comply with the required minimum distribution rules by using a reasonable and good faith interpretation of the statute. These proposed regulations will affect administrators of, employers maintaining, participants in, and beneficiaries of governmental plans. Written or electronic comments and requests for a public hearing must be received by October 8, 2008.

New Regs on Grantor Retained Interest Trusts
The IRS released   final regulations providing guidance on the portion of property transferred to a trust or otherwise, that is properly includible in a grantor's gross estate under sections 2036 and 2039 if the grantor has retained the use of the property or the right to an annuity, unitrust, or other payment from such property for life, for any period not ascertainable without reference to the grantor's death, or for a period that does not in fact end before the grantor's death. The final regulations affect estates that are required to file Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return. These regulations are effective on July 14, 2008.

New Regs on Information Reporting Requirements Under Section 6039
The IRS released   proposed regulations relating to the return and information statement requirements under section 6039. These proposed regulations affect corporations that issue statutory stock options and provide guidance to assist corporations in complying with the return and information statement requirements under section 6039. Written or electronic comments and requests for a public hearing must be received by October 15, 2008.

IRS Extends Documentation Deadline for 409A Compliance
The IRS announced that taxpayers will have until December 31, 2008 to bring documents into compliance with the final nonqualified deferred compensation regulations under section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code. Click here:  409A Compliance Deadline Extended.

IRS Launches On-Line Workshop for Exempt Organizations  
The Internal Revenue Service has launched a new Web-based version of its popular Exempt Organizations Workshop covering tax compliance issues confronted by small and mid-sized tax exempt organizations. Users can access this new training program at www.stayexempt.org. Users can complete the modules in any order and repeat them as many times as they like.  The online training website does not require registration and its visitors will remain anonymous.