Practice Management

The Internal Revenue Service announced that taxpayers are continuing to file their tax returns electronically from home computers at a record pace, up almost 7 percent from the same period last year.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that farmers and fishermen affected by the mid-February snowstorms could ask the agency to waive any estimated tax penalties.

The Tax Court has ruled that although a taxpayer spent more than 1,000 hours playing video poker in 2003, he was not a professional gambler.As part of its decision, the court implied that playing video poker might never constitute a trade or business under Section 162 of the tax code. After noting that the petitioner, a Chicago building operating engineer, never adjusted his gaming strategy even when it became apparent that he never had a winning year, the court also said that it remained unconvinced that the petitioner’s gambling activity meets the standard for being a trade or business.

Sage Software Select resellers Blytheco Business Solutions and Macdonald Consulting Group have merged to form Blytheco LLC.

Long Island accounting firm Janover Rubinroit LLC has merged with tax and estate specialists Roberts, Rick & Moses LLP, in addition to relocating and expanding its New York offices.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Responding to extension requests, restaurants and bars will have a few extra months -- until June 30 for this year only -- to elect to participate in the Internal Revenue Service’s Attributed Tip Income Program.

In a unanimous vote, 412-0, the House said that it will require a trio of accounting regulators to provide regular updates on the work being done to reduce the complexity of financial reporting and develop principles-based accounting standards.Through 2012, either the chairmen or other designees from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board will now provide annual testimony to the House Financial Services Committee.

A Congressman wants the Treasury and the Federal Trade Commission to explore shutting down a trio of Web sites that taxpayers could easily mistake for the Internal Revenue Service’s official site.Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet, sent a recent letter to the agency heads, as well as IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, arguing that the disclaimers at the bottom of the sites explaining that that they are not affiliated with the government, does not do enough to provide protection to consumers.

Any given week, it seems that there are plenty of PR people out there circulating trend surveys that -- to put it kindly -- are built on somewhat a dubious foundation.

I am a loyal Jet Blue flyer, a.k.a. customer. I got the below e-mail from, I believe, David Neeleman, president of Jet Blue. I wasn’t on any of the delayed flights but I sent him a response. It read, “That's okay, and I hope David gets this message.”