The IRS' whistleblower program has serious problems, according to a new Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report. Its problems include failing to provide adequate protection to employees from retaliation by their employers and an ineffective inventory control system for handling new claims.

Calls for a global tax intervention to curb, or at least mitigate, banks' risky behaviors are gathering force. In early October, The Wall Street Journal reported that the International Monetary Fund, at the request of the G-20, is looking into a new tax that could be imposed on the financial giants to help governments clean up the current mess and head off any future meltdowns.

The Tax Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think tank, has released its annual ranking of the "business-friendliness" of state tax systems. Top slot on the State Business Tax Climate Index goes to South Dakota, which levies zero corporate or individual income tax. New Jersey was ranked the least tax-competitive state.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is on a roll. A few weeks ago he announced a new domestic fuel tax as part of France's well-publicized drive to take the vanguard in the fight against global warming. Now Mr. Sarkozy has talked German Chancellor Angela Merkel into signing on to his plan for an E.U.-wide carbon tax on imports from countries that fail to meet what he regards as acceptable carbon emissions standards. It's sure to cause a stir at the upcoming U.N. Climate Change Conference.

California's Commission on the 21st Century Economy, which was charged with reforming the state's tax structure, suggested in a recent report that the state implement a "business net receipts tax" (BNRT) -- essentially a value-added tax (VAT) -- that would massively transform the state's corporate and individual tax structures.

The long-awaited health care bill, which was unveiled by Sen. Max Baucus, won't affect corporate taxes as much as many anticipated. The two big proposals: small companies that offer health insurance could get tax credits and companies with more than 50 employees that don't provide insurance could end up paying the government up to $400 per employee.

The ink was hardly dry on the April 2008 merger of business information giants Reuters Group and The Thomson Corp. when the new combined entity embarked on an aggressive campaign to beef up its Tax & Accounting business. It bought GRC heavyweight Paisley in January and has now snapped up Abacus, a London-based tax software company owned by Deloitte LLP.

As indirect costs rise and economic pressures increase, the need for profitability and cost management (PCM) also grows. Read this Thought Leadership white paper to find out more about how PCM drives business performance by finding drivers of cost and profitability, empowering users with visibility and flexibility, and improving resource alignment.

The 6th Annual BPM Summit brought together some of the business world's foremost practitioners to explore the transformational role of finance in the enterprise. If you missed the live event, you can still enjoy access to the audio and slide shows from the keynote presentations at our on-demand archive.