Most corporate tax pros, like business leaders in general, are looking forward to kissing 2009 good-bye with a huge sigh of relief. But there’s still time to score some tax savings for this year and get a jump on 2010. Here are a couple of year-end tax round-ups that can help.

1. Big-10 accounting firm Crowe Horwath has published a federal tax “Survival Guide” with an emphasis on midsize organizations. The update covers six important topics:

• The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The report offers thumbnails of tax savings opportunities in the stimulus act that you might have missed, including provisions affecting high-yield discount obligations, the reduction of the built-in gains holding period for S Corporations, the work opportunity tax credit, and environmental incentives.

• Accounting for uncertain tax positions. Crowe Horwath offers a brief review of the ramifications of FIN 48, just now kicking in for many nonpublic organizations.

• Deducting losses from LLCs and LLPs. A couple of taxpayer-favorable court rulings this year may make it easier for partnerships to deduct losses.

• Tax methods of accounting. Recent IRS guidance has expanded the types of changes in accounting methods that qualify for automatic consent.

• Like-kind exchanges. Developments in 2009 affect exchanges of intangible assets and deals arranged through third-party intermediaries.

• Reportable and listed transactions. While the IRS hasn’t changed its list of transactions that must be reported (under penalty of fines of up to $200,000 per transaction), a couple of court cases suggest that the agency is “aggressively pursuing infractions of the reporting rules without exception,” Crowe Horwath notes.

2. For a concise overview of the tax extenders bill that the House passed on Wednesday, you can’t do much better than this tax briefing from business information and software provider CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business. The R&D tax credit extension is the big news here for business, but the report is comprehensive enough to cover some lower-profile tax savings opportunities, including special treatments for qualified leasehold, restaurant, and retail property; film and television production; and environmental remediation. ###