Practice Management

The Taxpayer Advocate Service needs to do a better job of processing requests from taxpayers for relief from Internal Revenue Service enforcement actions, said a new report from the Treasury Department's watchdog group.

The Internal Revenue Service said that economic stimulus payments directly deposited to individual retirement accounts and other tax-favored accounts may be withdrawn tax-free and penalty-free.

IRS Narrows Tax Gap

Revenue at accounting firm J.H. Cohn rose 26 percent to $221,371,000 for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2008.

The government won its second victory in the past month in a lease-in, lease-out tax shelter case, after the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed with a federal district court that BB&T Corp. is barred from obtaining a tax refund of approximately $4.5 million.

How often do you visit other accounting firms? Many firm associations, when holding a meeting in a city where a firm member is located, often arrange for the attendees to visit that firm’s office in a guided presentation. The Practical Accountant editorial staff also periodically visits accounting firms, and the payoff for us, and also ultimately for our readers, is astounding. The last firm that we visited was Weiser in New York City, and the result was the same.

The Internal Revenue Service stepped up its compliance activities last year and saw its revenues jump, according to a new report.

Entertainment and sports accountant Mike Vaden and his Vaden Group have allied with regional accounting and business advisory firm Joseph Decosimo & Co. to form a business management practice aimed at the entertainment industry and high-net-worth individuals.

Accounting firm Plante & Moran said it was seeing optimism among the businesses it surveyed in the Midwest despite general worries about the economy.

President Bush said the Treasury Department would begin distributing the first batch of tax rebates by direct deposit on Monday.