Sokol Resigns From Berkshire After Investing in Lubrizol [Bloomberg]
David Sokol, once a candidate to succeed Warren Buffett as the head of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A), resigned as it was disclosed he helped negotiate a takeover while buying stock in the target company. Sokol, 54, bought about 96,000 Lubrizol Corp. (LZ) shares in January before recommending the company as a takeover target, Buffett, Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive officer, said yesterday in a statement. Sokol had initiated confidential talks with Lubrizol the month before. Berkshire agreed to buy the firm for $9 billion on March 14.

GE-Whizzes: Everyone’s Looking for an Edge on Taxes [WSJ]
GE isn’t the only corporate giant striving to pay as little as possible under the tax code. Wall Street firms, battered by losses during the financial crisis, wrote down their tax bills using a variety of methods and claimed benefits against other tax bills.

House of Lords Skewers Auditors; Over To You, Congress [Forbes]
Wish granted.

Tax Court: Woman Can Deduct Funds Withdrawn by Abusive Boyfriend [TaxProf Blog]
The Tax Court yesterday held that a women could deduct funds withdrawn from her businesses by her abusive boyfriend as theft losses.

Too many accounting bodies, bemoan Lords [Accountancy Age]
With six primary regulators of auditing and accounting in the UK, the Lords described their overseeing of the industry as “fragmented and unwieldy”, saying there is patent overlapping of jurisdiction and function. One unified regulator was held up as the gold standard and the committee seemed to be calling for outside powers to swoop in and break up the squabbling crew.

Sister act: Alabama tax prep sisters each face 129 years in prison [AW]
A couple of sisters looking at a Madoff-esque sentence.

Taxpayer Suggestions for Improving the I.R.S. [Bucks/NYT]
A Q&A with a regular Joe…er…Herb who sat on the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel.

KPMG Sued For Giving Tom Hicks “Clean Audit” a Year Before $525-Million Loan Default [Dallas Observer]
GPS alleges that KPMG “was well aware of the desperate financial condition of Hicks Sports” — specifically, the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars — when it was hired to conduct the ’08 audit.

Tax Revenue Snaps Back [WSJ]
State and local tax revenue has nearly snapped back to the peak hit several years ago—a gain attributed to a reviving economy and tax increases implemented during the recession. But the improvement masks deeper problems for state and local governments that are likely to linger for years. To weather the recession, state governments relied on now-depleted federal stimulus funds, which allowed them to put off painful cuts that would have otherwise been necessary to balance budgets. Meanwhile, demand for government services and the tab for public-worker pensions and health care have conting>Global Accounting Standard Delayed Years by Crisis, Quigley Says [Bloomberg]
The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression may have delayed adoption of a single global accounting standard “by a couple of years,” said James Quigley, chief executive officer of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. “The financial crisis may well have slowed that process down,” Quigley, 59, said in an interview yesterday. “National regulators, understandably, are thinking ‘How can I protect my investors in my country?’ You then start traveling a road of national standards and national regulation, and the momentum we had toward globalization and global standards to support global capital markets has been set back.”

GE Auditor KPMG: Supporting Their Tax Strategy For 102 Years [Forbes]
The world’s best tax law firm can always use some extra help.

Tax Season Gets Tricker for Some Gay Couples [Bucks/NYT]
Tax season often delivers more than the usual set of headaches for same-sex couples. But it’s about to get incredibly more complicated for couples living in California, Nevada and Washington. There is an upside, though. Many of them will save thousands of dollars in federal income taxes.

In Prison for Taking a Liar Loan [NYT]
Hopefully the IRS does choose all its investigative targets simply based on cars they drive.

IRS employees plan rally in support of federal, state workers in downtown Detroit [AP]
Detroit area Internal Revenue Service employees plan to rally in support of federal employees as well as state workers in Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere. National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 78 President Debra Carter plans to lead dozens of IRS employees in a rally at 3 p.m. Wednesday in front of the IRS Computing Center in downtown Detroit.

Senator Coburn Plan to End Ethanol Credit Tests Republican Tax Principle [Bloomberg]
Senator Tom Coburn is trying to challenge the proposition that all tax breaks are created equal. The effort by the Oklahoma Republican to end a tax credit for ethanol places him in conflict with farm-state senators who want to keep the tax incentive. It also puts him at odds with tax-cut advocates in the Republican Party, who argue that eliminating the tax break would result in an unacceptable tax increase. The proposal could reach the Senate floor this week.

Should We Cut Corporate Taxes By Raising Rates on Investors? [TaxVox]
While there seems to be growing agreement in Washington that the U.S. needs to cut its tax rate on corporations, there is (surprise) no consensus at all on how to pay for this. One way: Raise taxes on capital gains and dividends.