Practice Management

Preparers who add more employees during tax season -- especially employees new to a practice -- must develop standards of communication and management, according to the Income Tax School’s white paper, “Leveling the Playing Field: How to Compete with the National Firms.”

The Internal Revenue Service faced challenges last tax season providing telephone service to taxpayers and responding to their correspondence, continuing the negative trends in recent years despite some efficiency gains and efforts to improve service, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.

Despite efforts by the Internal Revenue Service to prevent tax fraud by prison inmates, the problem has been growing with the amount of fraudulent tax returns filed by prisoners and identified by the IRS increasing from more than 18,000 in calendar year 2004 to more than 91,000 tax returns in 2010, with the refunds claimed on these returns climbing from $68 million to $757 million.

A former CPA and tax preparer who spent three years on the run as a fugitive in Pakistan has pleaded guilty to charges of engaging in a tax refund conspiracy after he was accused of using the names and Social Security numbers of dead people to submit false claims for income tax refunds.

The Internal Revenue Service is providing information on some of the retirement plan provisions of the fiscal cliff deal that was signed into law earlier this month.

For businesses relocating or expanding into new markets, taxation is now one of the top 10 site selection factors that determine where companies decide to set up shop, especially in high-cost states like California, Massachusetts, New York and Illinois.

Bloomberg has introduced a Tax Practice Center to complement its tax law research service.

Burton & Browse has agreed to become a part of Bee, Bergvall & Co.

The former treasurer of a local union chapter of IRS and other Treasury Department employees has been charged with embezzling over $20,000 of the union’s funds.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to introduce a simplified way for small business owners and home-based employees to claim the home office tax deduction.